So we went to the opening night of the exhibition Greater Toronto Art 2024 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) to see what sage advice might emerge from the crowd.
Zinnia
My friend’s mom’s friend was afraid of elevators and basically when we got in, she was hyperventilating a little bit, but just needed her hand held and a little bit of support. So maybe you just have to ask that person how you can support them and then it’ll be fine.
Kaija
Okay, so if there’s an elevator, there will also be a set of stairs. So you can always take the stairs if you don’t want to take the elevator.
But if you want to practice and get over the fear, I would say create a small box — like a refrigerator box — and practice standing in it for a period of time, and then work your way up to imagining that you’re on the first floor in a box, and then the second floor, etcetera.
And if all else fails, you can always just sit down in the elevator. Because it’s more grounding that way.
This article appeared in the 2024 May/June issue.
