webmasterteen Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 You may recognize me from last year when I commented on my lack of faith in the church and my worry about what to believe. Then you may remember me asking if hugging yourself when you wake up was wrong. Anyway, I'm back and this time I've sent my papers in. I'm waiting for them. I'm ready spiritually and have been with my local Missionaries. Everything is great. The only real concern I have about the MTC will surprise you. I have a fear of public shower rooms. Like the ones where you enter and choose one of those polls and on it are a ton of shower heads. Ever since I was young like 8-12 or so, I've had a fear of entering a shower room by myself and even with others at times. My fear is mostly in the fact that at any time they could turn on by themselves. I know it's just water and I shouldn't be afraid, but I am. What do you recommend I do to prepare for the shower rooms at the MTC? I'm fine with normal showers in a bathroom. But it's when it's open and there are multiple ones everywhere that I have a fear of. It isn't bathing in front of other guys or anything (although that's quite uncomfortable as well) but just the shower room in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 If I remember correctly, there are both showers like those poles, but also individual showers for the more shy missionaries. You'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webmasterteen Posted May 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 If I remember correctly, there are both showers like those poles, but also individual showers for the more shy missionaries. You'll be fine.If there are private showers that would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarginOfError Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 My recommendation was going to be to get up early to make sure you can get one of the private showers. Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vort Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Congratulations!Amazingly, our society seems to have become somewhat more modest when it comes to public showering than it was in my youth. I don't believe my sons have had to shower in communal showers at all. I can ask my oldest, who was recently in the MTC, if they had communal showers, but I have been told that most MTC showers are individual stalls now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trubludru Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 While I agree communal showers aren't exactly a comfortable arrangement for most people, there will now be a dearth of "tree of life" jokes if it is all private shower stalls now. (It seems like most guys I know refered to the communal shower with 6 or so shower heads on a central pole as the tree of life). When I was there, (12 years ago) there was about 4 individual shower stalls per bathroom but it doesn't seem like they really had shower curtains. I did hear that the sister missionaries all had private showers stalls though. And the set up may have changed by now. And while I agree showering with a bunch of other guys isn't really in my comfort zone nor most other people, it isn't the end of the earth if that is the situation. Just keep your eyes above waist level and focus on your shower routine and it hopefully won't be that big of deal. But yes I do remember some guys there getting up at like 5 so they could have more privacy, I preferred more sleep myself. But it sounds like you aren't so much concerned with showering with other guys as being in a big shower room itself....not sure about that (did you watch Stephen King's "It" as a small child?). The bathroom/shower area is basically one big area with the sinks and toilets on one end and the shower area at the other end. There will probably already be showers going when you enter, so maybe that will lessen the fear of the showers turning themselves on.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john doe Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 I suggest you go to your local swimming pool or fitness center and use the showers after the activity. After a while,you learn how to look at other men without staring at their genitalia and stop being self-conscious about how yours may or may not compare to theirs. You eventually realize that everyone is different and that it is no big deal. Side story time: My coworker went to Germany to pick up his son from his mission and tour the country a little bit. In one area, they spent a couple nights at the home of a Branch President. In the evening, the BP's parents came over for dinner and to swim in the BP's pool. So after dinner, the father went to the side of the pool, took off his clothes and garments, and dove in and swam a couple laps naked. This took my friend by surprise, and he and his wife put on swimsuits before entering the pool, but the sight of this 80 year-old man swimming naked was obviously not a big deal to the family and it was implied that such things are not unusual in many European areas. The thought of such natural private-public nudity kind of freaks us Americans out a little bit because of our culture, but in many areas of the world it is no big deal. I'm not advocating that we should endorse or introduce those kinds of things here in the US, but you may be sent to a place where such private-public nudity is accepted, and it would do you good to not get freaked out by it. I know that I have read stories of missionaries in some parts of the world who had to go to public bathhouses because they don't have a tub in their apartment, so it may end up being something you will have to figure out how to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trubludru Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 @John Doe: I agree many Americans and probably even more so members of the curch are probably overly sensitive to public nudity in situations like a group shower room. @ Everyone: the OP's stated main concern is an irrational fear of room full of showers turning themselves on. I'm not sure what advice to give on that. Ask God to help you overcome it and hopefully down the road be laughing it was a concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skalenfehl Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 I'll never forget being new to a city in Germany and on a visit to a young couple who had just had their second child, my companion not having prepared me, I was shocked when the mother popped out her boob to feed her baby. It was just a culture shock to me. Thereafter, with some renewed focus, I was able to participate in discussions with this family without being distracted each time we visited them. As mentioned previously, other cultures are just different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEthePrimate Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 I don't recall there being individual showers when I was at the MTC, but then, that was a long time ago. It's possible they have them now. I heard the sisters had private showers (though I do NOT know from firsthand experience! ), and I don't understand why they would, but not the brothers. Are men supposed to be less modest than women? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lehi1902 Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Hey buddy, don't worry. They are all private stalls now. You will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lehi1902 Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 While I agree communal showers aren't exactly a comfortable arrangement for most people, there will now be a dearth of "tree of life" jokes if it is all private shower stalls now. (It seems like most guys I know refered to the communal shower with 6 or so shower heads on a central pole as the tree of life). When I was there, (12 years ago) there was about 4 individual shower stalls per bathroom but it doesn't seem like they really had shower curtains. I did hear that the sister missionaries all had private showers stalls though. And the set up may have changed by now. And while I agree showering with a bunch of other guys isn't really in my comfort zone nor most other people, it isn't the end of the earth if that is the situation. Just keep your eyes above waist level and focus on your shower routine and it hopefully won't be that big of deal. But yes I do remember some guys there getting up at like 5 so they could have more privacy, I preferred more sleep myself.But it sounds like you aren't so much concerned with showering with other guys as being in a big shower room itself....not sure about that (did you watch Stephen King's "It" as a small child?). The bathroom/shower area is basically one big area with the sinks and toilets on one end and the shower area at the other end. There will probably already be showers going when you enter, so maybe that will lessen the fear of the showers turning themselves on....Yeah man the jokes are over. The "tree of life" has been discontinued since 2008 or so... They should now transfer the joke to BYU's locker rooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webmasterteen Posted May 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 My recommendation was going to be to get up early to make sure you can get one of the private showers. Problem solved.That could work.Yes, of course the idea of being naked in front of tons of guys is the last thing I want to do but just being around shower rooms alone makes me nervous enough so knowing that their are singular showers comforts me.And it just seems odd that out of any type of fear I could have, being scared of shower rooms is one of my biggest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEthePrimate Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Well, it's good to know they've changed to all private showers at the MTC. Good for them! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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