Irrational Fears

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  • kwest_4_fitness
    kwest_4_fitness Posts: 819 Member
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    I was overwhelmingly afraid of the dark as a child, but worked diligently to overcome it. Once I had kids of my own, I made sure to keep any sign of fear or nervousness carefully hidden.

    But...even now, if I'm outdoors and have to turn my back to the dark, I have to use all my willpower to keep from breaking out into a run. As long as I'm headed into the dark, with the light at my back, no problem. As soon as I turn around, when the light in my eyes makes the dark impenetrable by contrast, I think that something/someone will pounce.

    My rational mind knows this is false, and that there is nothing whatever to fear. But tell that to the rest of me, when my stomach clenches, my skin breaks out in gooseflesh, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up!

    Me too. I can scare hell out of myself well enough that I don't need to read or watch scary stuff, lol!
  • JGT2004
    JGT2004 Posts: 231 Member
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    I think I have only one fear that is irrational. This is embarrassing to admit somehow, maybe because it is so irrational. I have a fear about driving into Florida. I have been to so many states on road trips, but refuse to drive into Florida. I dropped the idea of an art show I was going to go to years ago because it was in Florida. I won't visit friends there. Florida I could cut off the map and pretend it doesn't even exist.

    I cannot think of one thing that would explain that, but I am unwilling to go into Florida. I have never been there, and don't intend to ever cross that state line.

    Otherwise, I carry fewer fears than most anyone I know. But that one ridiculous thing. I don't sweat over it or get upset. I just know that I'll never drive or fly into Florida.

    Do you have a warrant out for your arrest in Florida? :huh:

    I have another one I thought of today and its fairly new. I have an issue driving next to 18 wheelers. There was one recently that was taking a corner too fast and fell over on its side on top of another vehicle. Scary! I try to reassure myself that if its my time to go there is nothing I am going to be able to do to stop it therefore I can't live my life in fear. It sort of helps. And yes I've watched all the Final Destination movies and they don't help! They just encourage me to look at even more ordinary objects and contemplate how they could kill me!
  • GlitterGoldJem
    GlitterGoldJem Posts: 73 Member
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    I HATE wax figures and statues ... I get sweaty palms and just freak out. Seeing as I'm in my late 20's I have obviously learned to be around them much more than when I was younger but they still freak me out! Celebrity wax figures and ones at Ripley's I'm pretty okay with it but historical ones forget it. A couple years ago on a family vacation my parents wanted to visit some park in Virginia that had huge busts of the Presidents, I was literally almost ready to pass out at the thought. Thankfully we never went. It's just such an odd fear cuz I've always loved dolls (the bigger the better) and we have cardboard cutouts of some of our fave celebs or super hero's in our game room and I'm so fine with that. People laugh at me but when these things come to life and start killing us ... I'll be running the other way screaming I told you so! haha
  • ampa916
    ampa916 Posts: 189 Member
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    When I was pregnant I was afraid to take showers. I obviously had to, but I was afraid I would slip, get stuck and hit my big belly on the side of the tub and kill my baby. Of course that never happened but it was still a huge fear.

    If my husband doesn't call when he says he will or if he goes to the store and takes longer than expected I automatically assume he is dead or dying and no one can help him. He never answers the phone because he always has it on silent for work or leaves it in the car so that just adds to my fear of him being dead. He always gets a laugh out of my crazy detailed death scenarios while he is gone lol.
  • ampa916
    ampa916 Posts: 189 Member
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    And yes I've watched all the Final Destination movies and they don't help! They just encourage me to look at even more ordinary objects and contemplate how they could kill me!

    Have you ever seen the show 1000 ways to die? That show is enough to make you not even want to get out of bed! but even staying in bed is dangerous too! I can only watch 5 mins at most at a time!
  • Johnnyswife
    Johnnyswife Posts: 1,447 Member
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    Hate spiders. Sends me crying into a corner and while I can say the word "spider" I can't look at a pic of one without shaking.

    But you said irrational fears and mine are (to me) kind of weird. I cannot stand to have someone walking behind me for an amount of time. I start panicking (in my head lol), and stop and pretend to look for something until they pass. Its not a all the time thing. Usually when I am dealing with a lot of stress.
    An all the time fear though is going up a set of stairs and having someone run up them behind me. I have ran up so many flights trying to get up them before someone else starts climbing them. lol Tell one friend that, and than they try to spook you by charging up the stairs while your on them. :noway:
  • RH_Brazell
    RH_Brazell Posts: 339
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    I dont like driving over bridges
  • Nogo
    Nogo Posts: 105 Member
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    Driving over wooden bridges or bridges when the river under them is at flood stage. Ick. Ick. Ick.
  • vettle
    vettle Posts: 621 Member
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    I have a phobia and it really irks me when people use it as an excuse, "Oh I have a phobia of snakes, I can't be in the same room as one, if I see one on TV, I have to turn the TV over" etc etc... If they actually had a phobia, they wouldn't even be able to say the word! Even the thought of the object of their phobia would be enough to send them into a panic or anxiety attack! (I know you're talking about irrational fears, so not just phobias, as such, but hey!) I've had mine as long as I can remember and it takes a lot of courage to even bring myself to talk about it (my partner usually has to tell people for me before I go into the room, just to make sure they know not to mention it or whatever!)

    Who do you think you are telling people they don't have a true phobia because they can say the word? There are varying degrees of phobias.
  • MayMaydoesntrun
    MayMaydoesntrun Posts: 805 Member
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    Sharks. I will NOT be eaten by one. I love the beach though.. I won't go on cruises now because I'll be damn if the boat sinks and I get eaten by a shark.
  • FitSid
    FitSid Posts: 117 Member
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    I'm scared of ants.

    And I also believe if I go to America I'll get murdered or stabbed or something over there, cause you know, all good crime shows are based over there. (I'm from Australia ::drinker: )
  • BriskaPacojame
    BriskaPacojame Posts: 197
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    I was overwhelmingly afraid of the dark as a child, but worked diligently to overcome it. Once I had kids of my own, I made sure to keep any sign of fear or nervousness carefully hidden.

    But...even now, if I'm outdoors and have to turn my back to the dark, I have to use all my willpower to keep from breaking out into a run. As long as I'm headed into the dark, with the light at my back, no problem. As soon as I turn around, when the light in my eyes makes the dark impenetrable by contrast, I think that something/someone will pounce.

    My rational mind knows this is false, and that there is nothing whatever to fear. But tell that to the rest of me, when my stomach clenches, my skin breaks out in gooseflesh, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up!

    THIS. Especially at the top of my basement steps when I turn the light off. That feeling like as soon as I flip the switch something horrible will crawl crazy fast up the steps and get me haha. I run.

    Oh yeah, and I keep all my beds (mine & kids) on the floor, no frames, because I don't want whatever is under it to grab/touch my feet. It's only ok if a light is on. :)
  • LastMinuteMama
    LastMinuteMama Posts: 590 Member
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    I was overwhelmingly afraid of the dark as a child, but worked diligently to overcome it. Once I had kids of my own, I made sure to keep any sign of fear or nervousness carefully hidden.

    But...even now, if I'm outdoors and have to turn my back to the dark, I have to use all my willpower to keep from breaking out into a run. As long as I'm headed into the dark, with the light at my back, no problem. As soon as I turn around, when the light in my eyes makes the dark impenetrable by contrast, I think that something/someone will pounce.

    My rational mind knows this is false, and that there is nothing whatever to fear. But tell that to the rest of me, when my stomach clenches, my skin breaks out in gooseflesh, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up!

    I am the same way! When I was dating my husband, I ran from the car to our apartment and was nervously waiting at the front steps..and was like, "What is wrong with you?" And I was thinking, "What is wrong with you, hurry up and let me in, it's dark out!!!"
  • howekaren
    howekaren Posts: 159 Member
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    Just for the record, the definition of phobia is "irrational fear". Degree of said irrational fear is arbitrary and varied. You can be irked all you like, but I can have a completely rational discourse on the topic of spiders, all the while I am shuddering inside. I avoid thinking of them because it tends to lead towards anxiety. This, however, does not lessen my phobia which strictly limits my enjoyment of the outdoors. And Spring, for that matter. Please do not discount my phobia just because it is not as great as your own, according to your own personal opinion.
  • cyclerjenn
    cyclerjenn Posts: 835 Member
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    My fear is of falling. It is not heights because I can go up and I'm fine hanging off the side of a cliff and looking down, I just can't go down. I go hiking with my boy friend every weekend and I can make it to the top of the mountian, but I neeed him to hold my hand to come back down the mountain.
  • loseiteli
    loseiteli Posts: 242 Member
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    If my husband doesn't call when he says he will or if he goes to the store and takes longer than expected I automatically assume he is dead or dying and no one can help him. He never answers the phone because he always has it on silent for work or leaves it in the car so that just adds to my fear of him being dead. He always gets a laugh out of my crazy detailed death scenarios while he is gone lol.

    I do this with almost everyone that is close to me...start freaking out and calling/texting them every second. :)

    I also have the fear of a semi rolling over and causing me to crash into it and die. (This one stems from a BAD accident that I witnessed when I was 6, where this actually happened...ever since then I think that its going to happen to me)
  • ArenM1
    ArenM1 Posts: 20 Member
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    i hate clowns so much that i cant take my kids to the circus. oh and worms....freaking gross!
  • CharlieBarleyMom
    CharlieBarleyMom Posts: 727 Member
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    Since I live alone and I am young yet and quite self-sufficient, I have a fear of something happening in my home that will make me unable to get to a phone, or worse yet, dead. Like slipping at the top of the stairwell and breaking my neck. Slipping in the bathtub and hurting myself or breaking something (like my face), or even when I'm exercising in my living room, the carpet seems to jump up and trip me. I have fallen and almost hit my head on a huge dresser I have in the corner. Then no one would know anything was wrong. My neighbors don't check on me just because they don't see my car move because we all have lives. My friends don't check on me every day. It is irrational because there's nothing I can do to change a possibility...but more than likely I think about it way too often.

    Oh yeah, and the whole driving next to an 18-wheeler. Especially a big truck that has another truck attached to it, a double. Oh NO! It is hard even for me to pass them because I'm afraid I won't be able to get past them... this causes me to sit behind them and go whatever speed limit they are, even if that's too slow for me.
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
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    I dont really know of any for me....

    to be honest, with all the dumb stuff I do, im amazed im still alive.
  • LastMinuteMama
    LastMinuteMama Posts: 590 Member
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    If my husband doesn't call when he says he will or if he goes to the store and takes longer than expected I automatically assume he is dead or dying and no one can help him. He never answers the phone because he always has it on silent for work or leaves it in the car so that just adds to my fear of him being dead. He always gets a laugh out of my crazy detailed death scenarios while he is gone lol.

    ^^^ This too! My sister and I couldn't get a hold of my mother once and we actually called the police for a well-ness check....I don't remember where we were that we couldn't check in on her ourselves, but it's still a running joke that she needs to check in or else we'll call in the troops to find her. I am just super paranoid that something awful will happen to her since she got divorced.

    I pretty much always go from zero to worst case scenario....you should see me when my sons' school calls!

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