{"id":1456,"date":"2022-12-15T08:46:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T08:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1456"},"modified":"2022-12-15T08:46:34","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T08:46:34","slug":"mastering-the-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/mastering-the-mountain\/1456\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastering the Mountain<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Therapy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre we expecting more? Roger? OK. A few minutes.\u201d No-one else arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s start. I\u2019m chairing. First, we introduce ourselves. Starting clockwise, give your name and a few words as to why you\u2019re here. Then hands up whoever wants to speak. The topic this week, Mastering the Mountain.<\/em> I\u2019ll go first. I\u2019m Reeta; been a regular for a year. My fear is meerkats. I call it Herpestidaephobia. That\u2019s a made-up word actually,\u201d she waits, weighing the effect, \u201cbut my therapist seems to like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

            \u201cI\u2019m Hussein, Huss. My second meeting. Water is my demon -aquaphobia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cHi, Jez here. I hate meetings… like this one… where I have to speak. Glossophobia it\u2019s called. I\u2019ve been with Obsessives Anonymous around 6 months. I attend other London groups too, depending on the month\u2019s topic.\u201d Jez flicks a long black fringe revealing a 3rd<\/sup> eye tattooed mid-forehead. She nails Reeta in a trifold stare as if to say, So ask me why I came here<\/strong> today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Introductions continue. \u201cHowdy, Mickey. Unusual for Roger to miss. Perhaps using the word Mountain was tactless? Acrophobia; he panics at library steps. Mine\u2019s agnophobia -fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

             Next, completing the semicircle, a bald, suited, square man adjusts half-rimmed glasses with trembling hands and speaks in a self-effacing voice. \u201cDr Gupta, qualified CBD and ERP therapist, replacement facilitator this evening. Good to meet you all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cYes Huss. Start us off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s helped me most has been getting together with Mickey. Water quenches fire; fire put out by water. Result! And we\u2019ve invented a game. Can\u2019t tell you much else; it\u2019s still with the patent office. Dragon\u2019s Den<\/em> here we come. <\/em>Squillions in the bank, a holiday home on the Costa Brava, that\u2019s what\u2019s going to help us <\/strong>Master the Mountain.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reeta raises her hand, granting herself speaking rights. \u201cI do feel rather a fake given the risk of a meerkat encounter in Muswell Hill is miniscule, -not like lighting a match,\u201d looking at Huss \u201cor having a bath,\u201d sniffing at Mickey\u2019s overpowering body splash and discreetly manoeuvring her chair back. \u201cAnyway, I\u2019m now an approved foster parent for Schedule 4 birds, – goshawks, eagles, all natural predators of meerkats. And the grand-kids love trekking with all the equipment, – leg jesses, hood, bells. Yes Jez.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cI\u2019m surprised no-one\u2019s asked the reason I came here today rather than the Kensington group which serves MUCH better coffee AND knows my real name is Adi, -Adiya, – beloved by God.  Hell, I\u2019ve said it! That must be my longest speech ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cCongratulations.\u201d Reeta beams. \u201cAdi deserves a clap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThank-you all for your contributions.\u201d Dr Gupta pipes in. \u201cIt\u2019s impressive how you\u2019ve all found supremely effective ways to Master your respective Mountains. And you\u2019ve also helped me as a therapist. I too have an obsession, a horror of, – don\u2019t laugh, – therapy sessions with their endless phobias and long Latinised medical terms. Seemingly it\u2019s a hybrid condition, – of hippopotomonstrosesqhuippedaliophobia, – fear of long words – and fear of doctors, Iatrophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone Laughs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAre we expecting more? Roger? OK. A few minutes.\u201d No-one else arrives. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s start. I\u2019m chairing. First, we introduce ourselves. Starting clockwise, give your name and a few words as to why you\u2019re here. Then hands up whoever wants to speak. The topic this week, Mastering the Mountain. I\u2019ll go first. I\u2019m Reeta; been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[597,693],"tags":[161,694,12],"class_list":["post-1456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-597","category-december-2022-the-stranger","tag-here","tag-mountain","tag-my"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-nu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1458,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456\/revisions\/1458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}