Counterphobic attitude

Robert: Ha! My sport has finally made it into the art world.
Fred: Yeah, but you’re only visible as a tiny little speck.
Robert: Well, that’s just the perspective of spectators left behind on the ground.
Sophie: Why do you take risks like that? You’re usually not the daredevil type at all.
Robert: It’s not about the adrenaline kick for me; it’s about different feelings entirely.
Kate: You can admit it, Robert, it’s okay. In everyday life, he’s a bit … emotionally clumsy. Even in our relationship, he struggles to express his feelings or even recognize them in the first place. If you push him too hard on it, he starts breaking out in a cold sweat. He says himself that it makes him lean toward social phobia.
Robert: Well, I wouldn’t call it anxiety exactly, but yeah, it’s headed in that direction.
Helen: So, you escape the stress of social interaction by taking to the skies?
Robert: It’s less about escaping and more about how I temporarily deal with being emotionally overwhelmed. I actively put myself in a tricky situation that I know I can handle. It’s how I clear the clutter in my head.
Conrad: Others like to talk about that famous “oceanic feeling” of boundlessness, that euphoric impression of infinite freedom by escaping your worries and getting some relief from the heaviness of the world.
Robert: Sometimes, when the thermals are good, I honestly feel totally sublime. Unfortunately, you always have to land on the hard ground of reality eventually. Then all those messy problems are right back where you left them. But hey, that’s where we live.