Paranoia

    I tend to think of myself as being cautious but not paranoid.  Paranoia happens without justification.  You don't have a good excuse for what you're thinking or feeling.  So imagine my surprise when shortly after Lane Change I started thinking I was being followed when driving.

   There wasn't any reason for it at all.  I'd start feeling an unease which turned suspicion which turned into panic.  A vehicle would catch my attention and just like that I'd think the vehicle was following me.

   Sometimes it was a car.  Sometimes a truck.  But the common denominator was the same.

   I had absolutely no reason to think it was happening.

   While at work on a smoke break I sat down and tried clearing my head.  I felt like I was missing something and if I listened carefully I could hear something to explain things.  I forced all the thoughts from my mind.  Sat quietly.  And after a few seconds I heard a voice say:

   "You don't hear me.  You hear someone you trust."

   What the heck was that?!?

• Where did it come from?
• Who was it?
• And how did I hear it?

   To  make matters worse the voice changed from a nondescript one I didn't recognize into a voice I did recognize as it finished that statement.  Is it really that easy to make someone hear any voice you want?  Is it possible to make them hear a voice without knowing whose voice it was going to be?

   Apparently yes.

   Yes it is.

   From that moment on I started hearing things in addition to the paranoia.  Here's a few examples:

• Don't you think that white car is following you a little too closely?
• Hasn't that white truck been behind for longer than it should?

  And the things I had started hearing matched up perfectly with the paranoia.  But did they precede or follow the paranoia?

   I definitely didn't want to get that backwards.

   All I had to do was think "No it isn't" as a response to each of those things I was hearing.  I didn't hear one another time after saying no to it.

   That was it.

   No more paranoia.

   But it gave me an idea to start reading up on.