Just for fun share your irrational fears.

[teachermom2834]

When I go out for a walk by myself I start worrying that I will fall and injure myself and my phone won't work and no one will ever find me. Before I leave the house that is totally irrational. Once I get to the end of the block I am positive that my children will be motherless if I don't get straight home. I do manage to conquer this enough to walk around the neighborhood where surely I could get help but I can't walk in the nearby park with less foot traffic without this worry.

[SquirrellyMama]

:lol::lol: Why do kids do this to each other? My kids have come home telling me the craziest things their friends have told them they shouldn't do.

I don't know. Either they were told and believe it, or they want control over someone.

 

 

Kelly

[ktgrok]

Oh...high curvy road things...like when there is a really long entrance ramp that is elevated, like a bridge. Or where a bunch of roads meet like that and snake over and around each other. It reminds me of a roller coaster and freaks me the heck out. 

[Barb_]

I used to worry about planes crashing on my house. I'd largely conquered that fear when that plane crashed in the Washington Heights neighborhood right after 9/11. Coincidentally Washington Heights is where my husband grew up and he knew the building. I don't worry about planes dropping out of the sky anymore, but I do white-knuckle the steering wheel when I have to pass that spot on the highway by Sky Harbor where the jets skim the highway coming in for a landing. I always gauge how fast they're moving and try to get past before they hit me.

[Barb_]

I don't know. Either they were told and believe it, or they want control over someone.

 

 

Kelly

Or maybe they only half understand the thing they were told. I'm sure my youngest has done that.

[Wheres Toto]

I'm afraid of being home alone, although I manage that way pretty well these days.  

I hate driving next to big trucks, especially between a big truck and the construction dividers.  No matter how small my car, I feel like I don't have room.

 

I probably am an over-worrier about something happening to my kids but I mostly have it under control.  I'm afraid they are going to accidentally fall off a cliff if we ever visit the Grand Canyon.  Googling "accidents at the Grand Canyon" did nothing to alleviate that fear.

[trulycrabby]

I am afraid of driving or being driven over a bridge, and must have the window rolled down to go over one without panicking.

Edited September 17, 2017 by trulycrabby

[luuknam]

Dd asked me the other day if I ever worried about accidentally getting stabbed by a syringe full of heroin. No, sweetie. 

 

Heroin, no. Fentanyl, yes (well, not getting stabbed... but (me or the kids) stepping on it at the playground wearing sandals or something). But, it's not something I regularly think about. It's crossed my mind though. So far the worst I've seen at the playground is a lot of broken glass.

 

When you become a mom, you can't read about a tragedy befalling another child without thinking that that could be your child.

 

 

No.

[Stacia]

I check behind the shower curtain for a serial killer before I pee, but that's just common sense.

 

I used to do that too. But one time I heard a comedian talking about that. He said that if there really was someone hiding in there, waiting for you, looking wasn't going to help you get away or defeat the person -- you would still be a goner anyway. Somehow that clicked with me & made me stop looking. :lol:  I'll just go for the element of surprise, I guess.

 

Snakes in a toilet.  I look and lift the lid every time just to be sure.

 

Omg. I wish you hadn't reminded me of this. When I was a kid, my grandmother killed a snake in our yard. For years & years & years that incident somehow sparked a certainty in my mind that this would be an issue I would face. It took years of looking before I finally (slowly) started giving up this practice. But, now, I don't know.... I might have to start checking again.

 

I guess I am ok with the surprise of someone in the shower but not of a snake in the toilet.

 

I have other fears that are not irrational. BUT, the irrational part is that saying what my deepest fear is will somehow make it more likely to happen. So I never speak of it, even though I know saying it out loud will not make it more or less likely to happen.

Edited September 17, 2017 by Stacia

[bethben]

Ditto on snakes in the toilet...and yes about being in public and someone with a hypodermic needle with some sort of drug in it waiting to stab me. It used to be hypodermic needles in the mailbox but we don't have a large one anymore.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DesertBlossom]

Well, I startd reading this thread thinking I didn't really have any irrational fears. Now I have at least a dozen. Thanks a lot, ladies.

[freesia]

Getting gas at Costco is a social anxiety nightmare. Which line do I get in? Should I get in the lane with the pump on the other side? What if that extend-o-hose is broke or not long enough? What if the front car pulls out first before the second is done? Do I go around or wait? Why are all these vested attendants walking around? Are they going to tell me I'm doing it wrong? What if my Costco card doesn't scan right? What if what if what if...?

 

I seriously drove in circles around the station for 2 YEARS before I gained the courage to actually get gas there.

You don't know how much better I feel knowing I'm not the only one who would have done this. Really the only reason I ever got gas in NJ is bc it is/was so much cheaper and I knew she would be disappointed I wasted the opportunity and I'd be embarrassed. Pure shame motivated me.

[TechWife]

Quicksand.

Well, it was everywhere I tv shows in the 1970's, so I'm not sure that's totally irrational!

[Seeking Squirrels]

Spiders. A common enough one, but still irrational to be as terrified as I am. I was recently trapped in the shower in our upstairs bathroom because there was a spider on the wall between me and the door. It was late at night and everyone else was asleep. I stood there shaking and panicking for about 20 minutes and then it moved. Of course that terrifies me more, but it also forces me to act since the only thing worse than a spider in my house is a spider I *know* is in my house but it's MIA. 

 

A bit more on the irrational side is my fear that the kids will fall off when walking on the curb, land in the road sprawled out, and have their head run over by a passing car. 

 

Choking. Not too irrational of a fear itself I suppose, but I still cut up DD9's hot dogs in multiple directions. I only stopped cutting up grapes and cherry tomatoes for her a year or so ago. I think this one stems from me gagging on anything chewy almost every single time. I like chewy candies like starburst, fruit snacks, swedish fish..... I gag and have to cough it up at least once (usually multiple times) each time I eat any of those kind of things. I decided quite some time ago that choking is likely the way I'll go. DH gets annoyed that I still eat chewy candy with how bad I am with it. 

 

 

[Momto6inIN]

My fears are all rational.

 

I hate driving between sheer rock faces- especially the type that says, "Beware of falling rocks." Would there be a sign if it was irrational? Then, I see boulders smashed on the side of the road...I drive faster when I have to go through parts like that.

 

I fear driving over bridges, especially bridges with water. It's better now that most of my kids are older and can swim. I used to worry about who I would try to save. When I had 4 under 6 it was terrifying. I have even thought about putting life preservers in the car and wondered why our seats don't turn into flotation devices!

 

And, of course, I would never dangle my feet over the side of the bed with the lights out. That is just asking to be eaten.

I had a recurring dream about that after my 3rd was born. We went over the bridge into the river and I knew I could swim with 1 kid, maybe 2 with the help of adrenaline pumping, but no way with 3, so we just sat in the backseat and sang Jesus Loves Me as the water rise higher and higher until I woke up. Every night for several weeks postpartum. *shudder* Doesn't take a psychologist to tell me I was feeling overwhelmed lol

 

I got over it by putting life jackets under the van seats and pool noodles in the back of the car, all year long. Kept them there for literally years. Got lots of funny looks in the parking lot of the grocery store in the winter, but whatever. It worked and it was cheaper than therapy ☺

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[littlebug42]

I am crazy claustrophobic so tunnels definitely freak me out.  I can't even watch things on TV about people being in enclosed spaces.  

 

Rodents. 

 

Just thinking about going to the dentist causes panic attacks.  Even taking my children freaks me out (although I do it anyway).  

[Lady Marmalade]

Bridges and tunnels. Driving over bridges I'm always afraid I'll swerve and break the guardrail. In tunnels it's the walls.

 

 

Driving off a bridge into water. It's not totally irrational, but my fear is probably disproportionate to my risk.

 

Also, tunnels.

 

And finding out I'm not as smart as I think I am. 😳

 

 

I don't like bridges. Or water. Or bridges that go over water. It's better than it used to be. I mean, once I started driving, I had to stop closing my eyes as I went over bridges.

 

And then we lived in the Twin Cities when the I-35 bridge collapsed into the river during rush hour, and six people died. They said since it was stop-and-go traffic, there were a lot less fatalities than if traffic had been going faster. And for months there were reports about how so many bridges were not up to standards. So I'm totally justified in my fear now.

 

Sometimes when I let the dog out at night, I get this irrational fear that a jaguar is going to attack, or something horrible will happen to the dog. We don't even have jaguars here. One night, as my husband was letting the dog out, he said, "Sometimes I worry that when we let the dog out, he's going to be bitten by a zombie, and then we'll let a zombie dog into our house, and that will be the end of us." Jaguars are sooo much more rational than zombies.

 

Bridges. And Tunnels.

 

People, this summer I had to drive through a BRIDGE TUNNEL.  I thought I was going to die.  Driving into Virginia Beach, there was no other way, and all the sudden I'm frantically praying for a magical exit as the kids and I all realize that the bridge we are in is going to go INTO the water.  There are no words.  I did it 3 times that trip, and I hope I never have to do it again!  So, so terrifying.

 

The I-35 collapse traumatized me also.  SIL had been on that bridge literally ten minutes earlier, and we used it all the time to get from her house to the city when we visited.  I totally felt justified for all my bridge fear nonsense!!

[Chelli]

I cannot have any body part hanging over the edge of my bed while I sleep. I'm 5'10" so it can be a challenge.

My fear stems from the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. One of the kids was taken into the D and D realm because they were sleeping with their arm or leg over the side of their bed. Underneath their bed began to glow and a creature's hand came out from under the bed, grabbed the dangling appendage, and pulled them under. *shiver*

[Caroline]

I am always sure that I will get somewhere and not be able to find a parking spot. Has this ever happened? No. I always have a parking plan b. People know this about me and offer to let me ride anywhere where parking might be tight, like soccer tournaments. A few years ago I made a conscious decision not to let parking fears keep me from doing something. But that doesn't keep me from being up all night worrying about it sometimes.

[Guinevere]

Are you a child of the 80's? I ask because I grew up watching MTV (when it first came out) and there was a Huey Lewis video with a shark fin coming up on the beach. For a long time, when I was young, I thought that could actually happen.

Here's the video. It's at the very end....

 

Actually, I am a child of the 80s, but I wasn't allowed to watch MTV.  I've never seen that video!

[Debbi in Texas]

My teen son collected queen ants, put them in test tubes, and is breeding them in his bedroom. Don't ask my why. He just thought it would be interesting. He gives me periodic updates, but I avoid going into his room and watching the nursery workers move things around and I'm not even afraid of ants. Some homeschoolers really are weird!

 

I can't even imagine this. I would never get to sleep.

[EMS83]

Heights.  Even in VR (I literally freeze; interesting observation though, fwiw).  

I can conquer it for rare opportunities, but it leaves me queasy.

[alisoncooks]

Mountain roads.

(Or rather, driving off the side of a mountain road.)

 

Also, I don't really mind heights, especially if I'm sitting, but if I'm standing I'm almost overwhelmed by a fear that I'll jump. Not that I feel a compulsion to jump, just a fear that I will just jump.

[Annie G]

Well, it was everywhere I tv shows in the 1970's, so I'm not sure that's totally irrational!

 

As a kid I was really concerned that as an adult I was going to have to watch out for quicksand. I figured as a kid my parents were probably managing that for me, but I was legit scared that as an adult I was going to encounter it often.  Dh felt the same way! We talked about that recently...how in the 60's and 70's it was on so many shows. 

 

I'm kind of disappointed that I've never seen any. 

[bibiche]

Snakes in a toilet. I look and lift the lid every time just to be sure.

 

Me too, but I don't count it as an irrational fear as I have had both snakes and scary spiders hide inside toilets. Also an iguana once, but he was cute.

[Barb_]

Well, it was everywhere I tv shows in the 1970's, so I'm not sure that's totally irrational!

 

 

As a kid I was really concerned that as an adult I was going to have to watch out for quicksand. I figured as a kid my parents were probably managing that for me, but I was legit scared that as an adult I was going to encounter it often.  Dh felt the same way! We talked about that recently...how in the 60's and 70's it was on so many shows. 

 

I'm kind of disappointed that I've never seen any. 

 

I've not thought of that in years, but you're right.  As a child I used to be terrified to walk across stretches of sand, which was a problem since we lived in SE FL.  Any vacant lot or patch of dead grass was full of sand.  Why was quicksand such a popular plot device??

 

Also cars blowing up.  I thought all car accidents resulted in massive explosions and sort of took it for granted that if we ever got in a fender bender we'd all go out in a blaze of glory.

 

Little house on the Prairie made me fearful of leaches.

[Annie G]

 

 

Little house on the Prairie made me fearful of leaches.

 

My fear of leeches came from The African Queen. I was afraid to swim in freshwater for a long time after that. 

 

And the exploding cars- yes! When I was a young teen we had an accident and I was frantic to get out of the car because I was convinced it was going to explode. We were hit in the front. Clearly I knew nothing. 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2017 by Annie G

[KungFuPanda]

I'm ridiculously afraid of mice and rats. Even a baby mouse will freak me out and I scream and jump in a chair before I can even process what I'm doing. That's pretty normal though.

 

My weird one is tat I'm afraid of getting a paper cut on my tongue from licking and envelop, so I won't just lick it across like a normal person. I do the little perpendicular licks all along the glue line. I look like a dufus. When I buy envelops I get the ones with the sticker strip so I don't gave to lick them at all.

[creekland]

Now I'm wondering if dh and I are the only ones who love tunnels and bridges (with views).  The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is one of our favorites.  We always stop on the causeway out there for a meal or snack plus to just watch the boats.

 

But fears?  Snakes.  I know plenty of people fear snakes, but it really is irrational, esp when there are few venomous ones around.  I love nature - all except the snakes.  I should probably add doctors too.  Actually, I quite enjoy them - as long as it's social like sitting next to them conversing on an airplane.  It's a whole different ball game if headed for an appt.  Totally irrational, but like snakes, one I don't seem able to overcome no matter what sort of reasoning I use.

 

If I ever saw a snake in a toilet... or loose in a house... I can't even imagine.

[Annie G]

Now I'm wondering if dh and I are the only ones who love tunnels and bridges (with views).  The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is one of our favorites.  We always stop on the causeway out there for a meal or snack plus to just watch the boats.

 

 

 

 

I love bridges and tunnels! The Lake Pontchartrain causeway was SO MUCH FUN to cross. My sisters were twitchy the whole time but I loved it. 

 

However, there is a bridge near us that crosses the Mississippi into Iowa and it's steel with tiny holes in it and if you cross it when it's wet or during winter, it feels like you're careening out of control. Thankfully they are currently replacing it.  I don't like that bridge!

[eternalsummer]

I have high general anxiety, which has always manifested in a variety of phobias.  Personally, the line between rational and irrational fears is hard for me to discern sometimes.

 

I am afraid of: 

water (specifically drowning, so really more bodies of water than showers)

extreme weather (rainstorms, etc.)

heights

snakes

rodents

alligators

spiders

bees

wasps

hornets

horseflies

junebugs

boats

fast driving

going around curves on the highway

burglars

home invaders

rapists

murderers

kidnappers

running over a kid while backing out of a parking spot or the driveway

running over a kid who darts out into a street

rejection

embarrasment

illness (every time a child catches a cold, I fear pneumonia)

labor&delivery

roller coasters

spinny fast rides at carnivals

ferris wheels

airplane travel

eta tunnels, especially underwater tunnels

bridges

Edited September 18, 2017 by eternalsummer

[eternalsummer]

Mountain roads.

(Or rather, driving off the side of a mountain road.)

 

Also, I don't really mind heights, especially if I'm sitting, but if I'm standing I'm almost overwhelmed by a fear that I'll jump. Not that I feel a compulsion to jump, just a fear that I will just jump.

 

 

Yes!  I have this same thing.

[tdbates78]

I have an irrational fear of being in any body of water in which I cannot see the bottom. I can swim perfectly fine, but I just do not like not knowing how deep the water is or what is in the water. My biggest fear is being swept out to sea during a high tide. Freaks me out just thinking about it.

 

Oh, and being at home alone at night. I'm convinced our house is haunted by a ghost that only comes out when I'm home alone ;)

Edited September 18, 2017 by tdbates78

[foxbridgeacademy]

My aunt thought it would be funny to let us 6 year old's watch a scary movie for Halloween.  In it a ghoul/monster thing comes out of the toilet.  If I see a toilet lid open I have to close it.... good hygiene, right?

 

My dad told us about "some woman" who walked out to her car at night and while unlocking her door a person reached from under her car and cut her Achilles tendon making it impossible to run away... yeah I used to check under my car when I was younger, before I figured out that no one could actually fit under my little Japanese compacts, still freaks me out a little bit.  

[foxbridgeacademy]

I have an irrational fear of being in any body of water in which I cannot see the bottom. I can swim perfectly fine, but I just do not like not knowing how deep the water is or what is in the water. My biggest fear is being swept out to sea during a high tide. Freaks me out just thinking about it.

 

Oh, and being at home alone at night. I'm convinced our house is haunted by a ghost that only comes out when I'm home alone ;)

If these are irrational fears my list is really, really, long.

[happi duck]

Radiolab had an episode about quicksand:

http://www.radiolab.org/story/quicksand/

[Annie G]

Radiolab had an episode about quicksand:

http://www.radiolab.org/story/quicksand/

 

Thanks for the link! I downloaded it and it's going to be the first podcast I listen to tomorrow!

[SamanthaCarter]

The phone. Specifically, making phone calls.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Word Nerd]

Being trapped in an underwater cave, deep water in general (I saw an infographic about the Mariana Trench and about started hyperventilating just thinking about how deep it is), centipedes, the Fireys in Labyrinth, clowns, creepy dolls...

[lauraw4321]

Irrational: me or one of my kids falling over the second floor landing area and dying or becoming paralyzed. There's a rail and no kid could fit between the slats. But still.

 

Rational: Lots. Kids locked in hot car. Finding a kid locked in a hot car as I walk into the grocery store, etc. Kids getting hit by car getting off the bus. Backing over my own kids in the driveway. 

 

Ugh, I'm going to have trouble going to sleep now.

[Terabith]

Cockroaches crawling into my ears

[rebbyribs]

The water coming out of the showerhead (but only in one particular shower at my mom's house) will turn into spitting cobra venom and blind me if I let it get in my eyes.

 

There will be a nest of rodents in our green waste bin or trash can, and they will come skittering out of the bin and up my arm as I take the bin to the curb.

 

In recurring dreams: the brakes on my car don't work well enough to stop in time at stop signs, I forget to take care of my baby, and I get sidetracked and delayed from doing something important. Somehow, in my dreams I can never get it together to be on time to things.

[BarbecueMom]

Okay, who else had crazy dreams last night because of this thread? I had a dream I was sitting in a huge stadium watching a baseball game. You know when you sit on bleachers, and you put one leg behind the bench so you are sitting sideways, straddling? I was doing that, except on the very top row, with my leg dangling toward the street below. With nothing to hold me up there. A sharp breeze would have pushed me off the back of the bench.

 

Then I had to leave (because they advertised a huge sale at IKEA during this game) and get to our car in an overcrowded parking lot, and the brakes on the car failed when trying to back out of a space.

 

Then I went to pick up my oldest son (no idea what happened to IKEA), who was at a nursing home in their weight room (!!?!?) getting into a fight with an elderly woman who took weights off his bar without asking him first. Oh, one of my other irrational fears is nursing homes.

 

I think I'm more tired now than when I went to bed.

[kewb]

I have an irrational fear of being in any body of water in which I cannot see the bottom. I can swim perfectly fine, but I just do not like not knowing how deep the water is or what is in the water.

The creature from the black lagoon gave me this fear. That scene where she is swimming and oblivious that the creature is under her mimicking her movements.

[DawnM]

Not irrational at all. I lost one that way. 

 

One of my fears is our bad roads. I know the chances of me losing control of the car just as I hit the non-guardrail sections of our mountain passes is slim (I've driven them hundreds of times), but it HAS happened. I much prefer driving towards the ranch rather towards Denver because at least there is the side of the mountain to hit. If you go off the other way, they won't find you until spring. 

 

What?  I didn't know that, did you share that before?

 

I am sorry.   :grouphug:

[Lady Marmalade]

I remembered a truly irrational fear for me, and I can even tell you where it came from.

 

That Dr. Suess story "What Was I Scared Of"  scarred me for life.  Truly, the Pants with Nobody Inside Them terrifies me to this day.  DH used to hang his pants/jeans up if he was going to wear them again.  He would hang them on a doorknob, or on a bed post or on a hook on the back of a door.  I would literally walk by, pick them up and drop them on the floor, because in the middle of the night, if I see those pants hanging up like that, it's going to look like someone is INSIDE them and freak me out.

 

I also dislike when I see a pair of socks lying there like someone just wriggled out of them and left socks there.  I'm afraid something is going to crawl out of them. 

[FaithManor]

Snakes. I am a thousand percent irrationally afraid of snakes.

[Guest]

Deep water I cannot see the bottom of

 

The ocean--even watching shows about it causes me panic attacks.

 

When I was a kid, my older brother was watching JAWS as I happened to walk by. I was scared to death for years the JAWS was going to come out of the toilets!

 

Swimming pools deep ends. I was convinced someone had a shark on the other side and would let it out to get me when I was swimming.

 

Walking around my house at night. I'm terrified that someone will be peeking in our un-covered all glass back door or a window. I skitter as fast as I can back to my room where dh is and lock our door.

 

Snakes. But we have had one get into our house once. Only time I heard dh swear.

 

Mice! had these, too coming out of our stove. No, no, no!

 

ANTS!! But I grew up in Louisiana. LOTS of bad experiences with ants.

 

Something happening to my kids or dh. But that is rational.

 

Being told I can't be on the boards anymore because my spelling/typing is too awful.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Paradox5

[Rachel]

When my kids were little, I had an irrational fear that I was going to accidentally lock them in the car. I was so paranoid about this that for several years I kept a spare key on a string around my neck, tucked behind my shirt. And hey - it's not totally irrational because I have known two people to do this in the past twenty years.

I did that. Locked my then 15 month old in the car with my phone. I had just had a discussion with my husband how we were almost over on cell minutes and we didn't want to pay the ridiculous surcharge, so we were trying not to use our cell phones. So after I flagged strangers down in the parking lot to use their phones, he wouldn't answer. It was 20 degrees out and I was wearing shorts as we were headed into the gym. My husband finally answered and came with a spare key. My son was fine but I bawled like crazy. It wasn't my finest moment.

[Rachel]

My irrational fear...raccoons. Even dead ones on the side of the road made me shiver. They are mean little creatures.