I'm 14 and still afraid of the dark.

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I never grew out of that fear. I have no idea if there's a real REASON why I never did, or if I just never got over it. What about you guys? Is it an Aspie thing to still be afraid of the thing you were afraid of as a kid?

I don't know but I'm 37 and I'm still afraid of the dark. I don't like swimming in dark water either. Too many monster movies when I was a kid I guess. The mind reasons, but the body still reacts.

Im terrified of the dark and im 15. I have my room loaded with nightlights. I think being scared of the dark is perfectly normal!

Don't worry about it too much. This is not specifically a spectrum problem. Some people never fully outgrow a fear of the dark, others do, but at different rates, so you may just take longer than some of the others.

I was terribly afraid of the dark as a child, but gradually outgrew it. I finally got to where I would occasionally walk down to the store in town, in the dark, although there where street lights. The shopping center was also lit up, but away from the center, it was still somewhat dark, even with the street lights. With one dog we owned we never had a fenced yard at any of the places we lived while owning him, so I had to do some of his walks in the dark. He and I were okay with that. We sometimes saw cats, opossums, mice, once a family of raccoons peeking out of a sewer grate, once a deer up close, and, unfortunately, twice he went after skunks. I have a weird sense of smell. I can smell some things, but not others, including skunk. I was the only one in the family who could stand to be near the dog even after he was washed with tomato juice.

I now kind of like the dark. Because of several health problems I have, my schedule is very irregular. I am often up or asleep at odd hours. If I fall asleep in daylight, and it's dark when I wake up, I like just staying there for a while, enjoying the peacefulness of the dark, before I have to get up and turn on a light, so I don't trip and fall on the way to the bathroom. If it is dark when I come home from running errands, I like to stand outside for a couple of minutes looking at all the millions of beautiful stars overhead. You can only see them in the dark.

If you are worried about bogey men, put up a few posters of Chuck Norris and other nice tough guys, and just think of how peaceful it is in the dark, and of all the neat animals out there in the dark.

Remember, the bogey men and the monsters under the bed and in the closet are afraid of Chuck Norris. Remember also, that we on the spectrum are all:

A Different Drummer

If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
Perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music which he hears,
However measured or far away.

--Henry David Thoreau

I am 20 and afraid of the dark.

Of course I am afraid of the dark, anyone with brains would be....

It is probably hard wired into everyone's brains....

15, not afraid. And how is any one with brains afraid of the dark? That makes no sense.

I'm thinking of the fact that it if is dark then you have just lost one of your major senses, seeing, therefore, it would be wise to be scared of the dark.

I used to be terrified of the dark in my own house, but I gradually got over it in three ways, one, which I know for a fact is a huge aspie trait is a blanket which you nearly smother yourself in. I used it to make the dark less mysterious and opressive. Two, I slept with knives for a long time. Not in the bed, but near the bed. if there is something going to grab you, cut them up. And three, work at seeing in the dark better, most of the fear about darkness is not knowing whats there, dont look at thing directly, use the sides of your eyes to pick up shapes using the minimal light that is available. And dont worry, outside my house, anything that is dark scares the crap out of me. Its not even something to be ashamed of, its a very logical process of: I cant see whats in that cave, if I cant see whats in there, there could be something in there, if theres something in there then it could kill me, if it kills me then Im dead, if Im dead, I cant make babies, I want to make babies. No more difficult that robotics. The end result of humans is always making babies. The dark can stop that from happening. You are litterally hard wired to be afraid of the dark.

Sometimes I wonder if people who are afraid of the dark are sensing that their houses are haunted. Not sure whether I believe in ghosts or not, but I've been trying to decide lately!

I am 20 and I am terrified of the dark.

I'm not afraid of the dark, but I am afraid of the ninjas who hide in the dark.

Everyone's got their fears. For me, it's corpses and semi trucks.

Sometimes the dark feels fine, and I'm not afraid. Sometimes the dark feels like it's full of evil things lurking in wait, and I'm terrified.

I keep a nightlight on. I'm 31.

I'm afraid of the dark, but I'm a year younger than you. I'm thirteen and having a really hard time getting over my fear of the dark. And with GAD(Generalized Anxiety Disorder), I get really tense. Even putting some light in the room doesn't really help. I keep getting the thought in my head that it's dark outside of my room. That makes it hard to leave my room, and keeps the anxiety strong even with a light source in the room. The thing that seems too help the most for me to sleep is repeating "It's okay" in my head. I sooner or later relax, and have an easier time getting to sleep.

I don't like light. I like it to be as dark as possible.

I'm not entirely sure what I am really afraid of.