Claustrophobic

“I am afraid of small rooms and narrow places. I find it difficult to breathe. I feel the walls and ceilings slowly closing in on me, forcing me to be pressured. I feel suffocated and lost control. Panic-stricken, I look for an escape but found none. Slowly, I lose all my senses.”

This is what a claustrophobic feels.

I remembered an instance when I was riding an elevator and people started flooding in. A girl shouted and made her way out. She cannot stand the limited space inside a closed elevator, for she might faint. She’s claustrophobic, That’s why.

This shot reminds me of Robert Langdon, the protagonist in the work of Dan Brown.


Having claustrophobia (from the Latin word claustrum “a shut in place”), an individual, like the fictitious Robert Langdon, feels an anxiety disorder, fears of having no escape, and being closed in. As I was walking in this corridor, no voices, no noise and no one nearby, I remembered the claustrophobic girl and the account of Robert Langdon. I walked slowly, pretending to be in a movie. :P

And I thought of a figurative lesson: Do not venture into other people’s personal space. Let them be free to do the things they want. Everyone shall be responsible for each action undertaken. A sense of freedom and responsibility can make an individual matured and fully-developed. =)