Childhood Trauma

Two days ago, I was having a walk with a friend of mine when we suddenly walked past this house that had a cat in it, so she asked me if I liked cats, and my response was an immediate no, and we just kept on walking.

_{photo by Yancy Min}

Well, earlier this morning, for some weird reason, that conversation kept on replaying in my head, and I found myself wondering why I don't even like cats to begin with. I'm a huge lover of dogs and hopefully plan on getting one in the future, but something about cats scares me.

I thought about it a bit, and it didn't take long for me to come to an answer. Apparently, my fear of cats began as a child, and it was all thanks to the Nigerian movie industry.

Back then, as a kid, a huge part of the movie being made here always had a storyline that had to do with witches and witchcraft, and I remember these movies used to be so scary back then that there were nights when I had refused to go to bed alone unless accompanied by someone.

And in some of these movies, some of these witches do transform into animals like owls, cats, and the rest, therefore subconsciously implanting in our minds that these animals are related to these diabolical things. This is why, up to date, a lot of adults are still scared of an owl.

I remember this one video that I had seen, where an owl had landed in a church, and everyone started speaking in tongues, casting and binding it like it was the devil itself. A lot of people won't admit it, but many of the things we watched as kids still have an effect on us even as adults.

It's crazy, but that's just the truth.