I’ve had an irrational fear of bathrooms ever since I heard a scary story about one in grade five. I am now twenty-three years old and I still haven’t completely shaken my fear of the bathroom mirror and a tap that won’t stop dripping. I won’t go into detail about the scary story because I don’t want to pass the fear onto someone else, but it has significantly impacted my life despite the amount of therapy I’ve gone through to try and change that.
I’m fortunate to have very well off parents who have put money into my trust account to buy and renovate my own house. I bought a property last year and now that I have finished uni I will be focusing on my new home for the rest of the year. I’ve been very hands-on in the design process, to make sure my new three storey home is perfect from the ground up. My only problem is the bathrooms. Being three levels, my home will have five bathrooms. I know this is needed for logistical reasons as I can’t have a big house and no bathrooms, but I am still quite anxious at the thought of them.
I have left the entire design process to the bathroom designers. Melbourne designers are quite elite, and have been able to conduct the whole process without any input from me, which is something I am extremely grateful for. My therapist told me to try and slowly contribute more and more to the bathroom designs, as a type of exposure therapy. I have tried but I haven’t succeeded as of yet. I couldn’t even contribute when the designers were talking about the bathroom renovation cost, which I am disappointed about because costing is obviously important.
I think my exposure therapy will commence when my house is built. I will spend five minutes in each bathroom a day until I am no longer scared.