BELONEPHOBIA:

fear of needles.


My belonephobia began in the doctors office, but I had to get vaccinations and booster shots. It's the law.

The phobia posed no major problems until my sister got a tattoo. I suddenly knew I had to have one, but I also knew I could never go through with it. It was the voluntary and repetitive nature of the tattoo needle that scared me.

But, senior year in college, when my best friend headed to Newport to get inked, I decided to face my fears head on. And so I created the simplest, smallest tattoo I could.

It took the guy about twenty-eight seconds to draw the small green "x" on the inside of my left ankle. In my memory there was no pain at all.

And so, with the support of friends, and a bearded stranger named Jack, I beat my belonephobia...or so I like to think.