I'm sorry but I couldn't find an appropriate topic to post this under so I hope this is the right place.
I am 29 years old and I have this crippling fear, a terrifying sense of dread that I'm slightly embarrassed about and wanted to know how common it was. My fear is of pool drains. They exist in one of my favourite places in the world, the water. I'm training to become a Scuba Instructor as a second job and I'm really looking forward to wet trials but the thought of having to dive close to or around a drain is scaring me half to death.
It all comes from a scare I had as a child when swimming underwater with goggles too close to the protective metal bars of my local pool's wave machine. It started up and pulled me towards the bars but I luckily only bumped against them and was quickly thrust away by the massive rush of water moving in the opposite direction. Ever since that encounter I have panic attacks and extreme fear around underwater grating and drains. I know I'm gonna have to deal with and overcome this as being an instructor means being responsible for others. My tutor says I'm the first person that's ever told him this and he has kindly agreed to keep me away from them but told me to talk to someone about it.
How common is this people?
Thanks for reading