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Irrational Fears... do you have any?


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...then two of yours are completely rational. The debit card thing?...well, we're all entitled to do something irrational. And, the belly button does. not. tickle. You have no idea! :001_huh:

 

 

You know, after reading all these replies I realize I have a whole lot more fears than I thought I had. I am sooooo understanding about having fears that no one else can relate to (and which many people consider ridiculous) and I sooooo appreciate people who recognize those fears and do not try to *force* me to "grow up" or just get over it. Therefore, I solemnly promise to never, ever, ever stick my finger in your belly button.:D

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Michelle, I hope you don't mind, but your list made me curious... Not cars? Any thought on why they don't make the list?

 

I'm not crazy about being a passenger, and I'm not so crazy about driving either. But there is just no way to avoid those two things, at least not where I live. So I suck it up and drive.

Michelle T

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I am actually afraid of finding a black widow in my toilet. I saw a show on tv once about bw spider bites and they said they like to lurk in toilets. I have flipped on the light in the middle on the night before sitting, just to be sure. That would not be a nice place to be bitten!

 

My uncle is a police officer, and received an interesting call one night. It seems a woman got up to use the potty, and sat down to do her um business when she heard a noise in the bowl....it was a rat!!!

 

I have always looked before sitting as a result of hearing that story ;)

 

Krista

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Shark attack. I am terrified of them. I will not go in the water, use to be just the ocean, but now it's all water. I freak out when my kids go in the lake or ocean with friends or family but I let them because I know they are having fun and my fears are irrational. I hope that I don't scar them for life but for the most part they laugh at me.

 

Sharks are one of my irrational fears too. The fear itself isn't irrational, its the fact that I live in KANSAS that makes it irrational. Not a lot of sharks here.

 

..I am repulsed by anyone sticking their finger in my belly button. Fortunately, there is only a very small number of people who might be inclined to want to do this, and he's supposed to know better. Sadly, there are times when he forgets or just can't help himself. :glare: Makes me feel like losing my lunch. So, I've got the irrational bit down, right!?

 

 

Wow, there are others who are weird about their belly button. I don't have a problem with it, but DH does. It makes him feel sick too. Strange.

 

Not being able to breathe.

 

 

 

This is another one of mine, though I don't know if its irrational. I also freak out if I get pinned down and I can't move, I will go immediately into panic mode. DH knows this, so if we're playing around and he does pin me, its for a brief second then lets me go. He's seen me freak out over it, once was enough.

I will also never ever scuba dive because I cannot possibly bring enough air with me to feel safe enough.

 

And shaving, I can't stand to watch people shave. IRL or on tv. Don't know if thats a fear, but I can't watch because they might accidently slip and cut their whole head off. Or something equally disturbing.

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I only have one....I am totally and completely terrified of vomiting. Not other people vomiting, although I find that rather unpleasant, just ME vomiting. I am sure I am going to die. I know...totally irrational. LOL

 

Me too. Deathly afraid of vomiting. Ew ew ew. I can deal with other people vomiting, for the most part. (Though then the anxiety sets in and I am terrified that I will catch whatever they had.) But I get very panicky if I think I am going to vomit. (I hate taking medicine, and will avoid it if at all possible, but I do have anti-nausea medicine that I take if I think I am going to be sick. It helps tremendously.)

 

Calling random people on the phone (not family or close friends). Not a phobia, but definitely anxiety. Hate cold calling people and will avoid if it at all possible. (I can definitely relate to the previous poster about not calling the air conditioning people, and just sweating it out.) The funny thing about this is that I do talk on the phone quite a bit, just only to people I know really well.

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NO WAY! I thought my brother and I were the only ones who have a belly button problem, and he isn't as weird about it as I am. I cannot stand to have anyone touch near my belly button or act suspicious as though they might touch my belly button. I also can't stand to watch someone else put their finger or something else in their belly button. My oldest had a habit of picking at his belly button while drinking his bottle when he was between 1 and 3. Drove me freakin' batty! It made a very definite sound, too, because he would pick it hard. Ugh. I'm cringing just typing all this! My dh and kids think this is hilarious of course. They like to walk around doing things to their belly buttons or threatening to touch mine just so I will freak out. I scream and they can actually bring me to the point of tears just with the threat. Youngest ds stuck a clothespin on his the other day and walked up to me. I thought I was going to hurl. I felt all weak and nauseous for the next five minutes. They also stick the eraser end of a pencil in their belly buttons and twist in front of me to watch me run out of the room. My family is cruel, I tell you! Once dh stuck his wet finger in my belly button to tease me. It was the most awful feeling. He had me crying hysterically even though it didn't really hurt. I was so upset I told him never to do it again and that it was like freakin' r*pe. (Yeah, I said I was hysterical!) He was so upset about me using that word that he has never actually touched my belly button again--only teased that he is going to.

 

Okay, whew! I'm so glad I could admit that to someone outside my family and so glad to know I am not the only one. I feel cleansed and also a little queasy. I think I need to go lie down a moment.

__________

Instead I read the rest of this thread and now I've got to add that that feeling did not go away in the least when I was pregnant. It was the worst thing about being pregnant--feeling the skin on my belly stretch so tight and the awful feeling that I couldn't escape on my belly button.

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Bridges over bodies of water. If my car has to stop on a bridge, I have to work very hard to not have a panic attack. My husband used to get me through them by telling me all about the engineering and safety testing of bridges; unfortunately that doesn't work since the I-35 bridge collapse.

 

I also have the irrational expectation that suddenly my road will end, or I'll be going the wrong way on a highway. I have trust issues with driving ;-)

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OK, but remember, you did say irrational. I sometimes worry that space junk will come hurling through the earth's atmosphere and kill me while I am innocently mowing my lawn or sunbathing.:001_huh:

 

Shows, books and news stories about near-earth asteroids are not permitted in this house.

 

Seriously, my fear of these is so huge, that ... well, it can take me weeks to get over a news story or documentary. It's not really so much a fear that something will come hurtling along and kill me (though there's that too - and did you ever watch Northern Exposure? LOL), but the fear that we'll detect some asteroid coming to smack the earth, it will mean certain death, and we'll all know about it for days ahead of time, but be able to do nothing.

 

And now it's 2 pm, and I need a drink :willy_nilly:

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The belly button fear that I thought was unique to me? It has a name: omphalophobia. And there are others who have it. Omphalophobics unite! There will be no pierced navels in this house! Pierce whatever the heck else you want to, but leave the belly button alone!

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Sharks in the toilet; unhappy thought indeed!

 

Yep. That's my irrational fear. Sharks, snakes, rats, you name it, I'm afraid I'll find it in my terlet!

 

:lol:

 

Don't move to Brazil, then. My best friend just moved there and has frogs jumping out of her toilet every day. And then there are the tarantulas, and the bees as big as tarantulas... Ugh.

 

As for me, any creepy little (or big, for that matter!) spider makes me scream like a girl. Well actually more like a crazed, emotionally unstable woman! I really scream uncontrollably. I mean, have you ever noticed how fast they run? And they always run straight toward you, not away. Shiver me timbers.

 

My kids are scared of spiders too (so let's just file that under "No Surprise There").

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Whatever the heck else I want? You sure about that? 'Cuz now we're tripping into yet another sensitive issue, that being nose piercings. I can kind of (with effort) manage the idea of a small stud in my nose, but a ring? I can't figure out how you get stuff OUT with that loop of metal clogging up the works. And, tongue piecings.

 

Um. I've gotten way off track here. But, yes indeed, back away from the navel. :glare:

 

The belly button fear that I thought was unique to me? It has a name: omphalophobia. And there are others who have it. Omphalophobics unite! There will be no pierced navels in this house! Pierce whatever the heck else you want to, but leave the belly button alone!
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I'm also very afraid of heights-not for myself but for my kids. I hate seeing them in a high place. I don't mind it so much for me, but I get this sick feeling in my stomach when I see them by the edge of something high up!!

 

When I see my kids on the edge of the garage roof, or walking across the deck railings like balance beams, or waaay up a tree, it's all I can do to not insist that they come down right away. Instead, I just walk away. I figure if I don't see them fall off and kill themselves it'll be easier. :blink:

 

I think it stems from my own hang ups. I have a touch of my own fears about heights, but as I've said many times it's not really a fear of heights. It's a fear of falling. :D I'm all great with enclosed heights. Empire State Building, Grand Canyon, farris wheels - no problem. But, take off the railings and walls, and I start to rethink. That point on a ladder when you have to go from the ladder to the ledge, or whatever? That's a scary time for me. I usually can do it, but I once came close to sleeping on a filthy barn loft because I was too afraid to go back the way I'd come.

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Sharks are one of my irrational fears too. The fear itself isn't irrational, its the fact that I live in KANSAS that makes it irrational. Not a lot of sharks here.

 

 

And shaving, I can't stand to watch people shave. IRL or on tv. Don't know if thats a fear, but I can't watch because they might accidently slip and cut their whole head off. Or something equally disturbing.

 

 

Hahahaha! I'm not laughing at you...it was just funny the way you wrote it. :lol:

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WORMS!!! I was waiting on the kindergarten bus after a rain storm and there was this big puddle. A little boy picked up a worm and threw it at me. It actually stuck to my eyeball, ick!:tongue_smilie: I have spent my whole life being terrified of worms. I'll pick up a snake as big around as my arm but don't you dare get a worm near me.;)

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My Dh teases me because I have a fear of sink holes.

Of course, every news item on sink holes just reinforces my fear. Thankfully, mudslides don't happen here or I would be equally vigillant against them also. (People's houses just sliding off the hills....crazy.)

 

I have been known to examine random holes in the yard to make sure that we are not developing any sinkholes in the yard.

There's a hole on one side of the road on my walking route....I don't walk or drive on that side. I'm sure that the whole section of road will cave in.

 

I've never actually been in a sink hole but the thought of the ground just caving in on you is terrifying.

 

DH is afraid of tree frogs. I have to hunt them down and trow them back outside. :glare: and he teases me

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(Although, when you think of it, being afraid of not being able to breath seems pretty instinctive, don't you think?)

 

Anyone here old enough to remember playing with those huge parachutes in grade school. Stand around the edges and..UP....down...Up...down....wheeeee! Well, my class thought it would be fun to roll kids up inside the parachute. We all lined up, single file, excited over pretending we were pigs in blankets or something. They rolled me up in that thing and I nearly died! I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. It was torture. So, I guess now I should have a fear of parachutes. ;)

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I get the willies when we drive past a large boat b/c I can't stand the feeling of being "under" a boat. I can't go on boat lots, either. The sight of the underside of a large boat just makes me shiver.

 

As phobias go, it's not one that causes a lot of problems, b/c I so rarely have to be "under" a boat, but DH gets a huge kick out of it. ;-)

 

Lisa

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I cringe up if I'm the first in line when a train goes by. I'm terrified of trains. And heights. I can't even stand on a ladder.

 

I have the train thing too.

I hate to stand on the platform waiting for a train to come because I am afraid that someone will come along and push me onto the tracks. I don't know why they would choose me, but I am convinced that they will. For that reason I always stand near the back of the platform, and I don't want anyone even walking behind me.

 

I also hate it when the other trains go whizzing by and the whole platform rocks. Again, I feel like as the train goes by someone will push me under.

 

Same for subways.

 

And for awhile I couldn't step on a manhole cover because I thought for sure that it would open up and I'd fall down into the hole.

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And shaving, I can't stand to watch people shave. IRL or on tv. Don't know if thats a fear, but I can't watch because they might accidently slip and cut their whole head off. Or something equally disturbing.

 

I feel that way with tooth brushing. I really don't like to watch anyone brush their teeth. Having children has helped me to some extent, but I still don't like it. It sends shivers down my spine. When I was in college my roommates would follow me around brushing their teeth just to watch me freak out.

 

Lovely girls. :glare:

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I have been known to examine random holes in the yard to make sure that we are not developing any sinkholes in the yard.

There's a hole on one side of the road on my walking route....I don't walk or drive on that side. I'm sure that the whole section of road will cave in.

 

I've never actually been in a sink hole but the thought of the ground just caving in on you is terrifying.

 

 

Same here!!!

Several years ago a local boy was playing in the courtyard of his apartment building and suddenly a sinkhole opened up and he fell inside. It was swarming with snakes, and I honestly can't even remember how the story ended. I was traumatized sufficiently by hearing about the sudden appearance of the hole.

 

And yes, I go looking around my yard to see if there's anything brewing. And there's one particular area where we once had work done on the pipes. I never walk over there and I tell the kids to stay away from it too.

 

I'm nuts!!!:lol:

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Same here!!!

Several years ago a local boy was playing in the courtyard of his apartment building and suddenly a sinkhole opened up and he fell inside. It was swarming with snakes, and I honestly can't even remember how the story ended. I was traumatized sufficiently by hearing about the sudden appearance of the hole.

 

And yes, I go looking around my yard to see if there's anything brewing. And there's one particular area where we once had work done on the pipes. I never walk over there and I tell the kids to stay away from it too.

 

I'm nuts!!!:lol:

 

Ok, you are starting to sound like me.... :lol::lol:

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Same here!!!

Several years ago a local boy was playing in the courtyard of his apartment building and suddenly a sinkhole opened up and he fell inside. It was swarming with snakes, and I honestly can't even remember how the story ended. I was traumatized sufficiently by hearing about the sudden appearance of the hole.

 

 

Holy Cow! I will never be able to sleep tonight. A hole appearing from nowhere, filled with SNAKES!!! Oh my goodness. I am going to have to go find a very big book to read to get this out of my head!! Oh yuck...:scared:

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Oh! I've got more...

 

Fingernail files - especially Emery Boards. Ugh! Nothing makes my skin crawl more than the thought of filing my nails. I just clip (I'm really good at getting a nice smooth edge with the clippers.)

 

Paper cuts on my tongue. For a job I had as a teenager, I had to lick a lot of envelopes, and yes, I got cut a few times on my tongue. Thank goodness for self-adhesive envelopes. But if I run into one that's not, I tape it closed. No more tongue paper cuts for me, thanks.

 

Closet doors have to be either all the way open or all the way closed. I used to be CRAZY scared of the dark (until I had children and now I just can't be) - I read a lot of horror novels in my childhood and teen years. But, despite not being too afraid of the dark any longer, I still have a weird thing about the possibility of someone hiding in the shadow of a closet door.

 

Oh - and, going along with the scared of the dark thing... I don't look in mirrors past midnight. (This one is completely stupid, I know - another childhood thing, though.) Did you ever play or hear of that stupid kid game about Bloody Mary and spinning around 3 times after midnight then looking into a mirror and you'll see a head floating in? Well, I heard that too many times as a kid - and now I just don't look in mirrors if I get up in the wee hours.

 

Now you know... I'm a psycho. :D

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Same here!!!

Several years ago a local boy was playing in the courtyard of his apartment building and suddenly a sinkhole opened up and he fell inside. It was swarming with snakes, and I honestly can't even remember how the story ended. I was traumatized sufficiently by hearing about the sudden appearance of the hole.

 

 

Forget actually having anything in the hole. I would freak if there was something in the hole.

 

I posted this once before but my worst nightmare involves my van going into a sink hole. I was telling a friend about my sink hole phobia and my night mare about driving into one. I finished the story with a little laugh about how absurd the idea was.

 

The friend stared at me dead pan and said, "I drove my car into a sink hole in Atlanta. It just opened up right under my front wheels.":eek:

 

I feel vindicated when I hear these sort of things. It's like..."See I told you. Sink holes!"

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At our old house there was an abandoned unused well storage tank under part of our driveway. It was about 8x10 feet and about 6-8 feet deep. Nothin' but empty space down there. I was always afraid the ground around it would cave in like a sink hole. We had to drive over it all the time. It creeped me out!

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At our old house there was an abandoned unused well storage tank under part of our driveway. It was about 8x10 feet and about 6-8 feet deep. Nothin' but empty space down there. I was always afraid the ground around it would cave in like a sink hole. We had to drive over it all the time. It creeped me out!

 

Which reminds me of the thing that I have just pushed out of my mind. I have totally been in denial about it until I read about your well.

We have a "void" under our driveway. It didn't matter so much when the concrete slab was whole. But now that it has been cracked and nearly destroyed by the tree removal guys, it's a little worrisome. Thankfully, the concrete guy will come (barring and storms) and replace the driveway next week. I am not going to see how big the "void" is or wonder how the "void" got there or look too closely at the cracks in the "void" area.

I'm just going back to pretending that the water that diseapears into that crack is going into a little trench or something.

 

I don't park over the "void." That's DH's side of the driveway.

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The friend stared at me dead pan and said, "I drove my car into a sink hole in Atlanta. It just opened up right under my front wheels.":eek:

 

I feel vindicated when I hear these sort of things. It's like..."See I told you. Sink holes!"

 

That reminds me of the time I told a friend that I had a fear that when I drove down a wooded road a tree might fall over and crush my car. Like you, I laughed it off and said that I know I'm a nut. The friend stopped and looked at me and said that just the week before that very thing had happened to one of her coworkers AS SHE DROVE DOWN THE ROAD TO OUR CHURCH!!!!

 

Hmmmm....not good.

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Mine's the medication. Horribly, detrimentally terrified of reacting to medication. I would have to be force-fed any kind of medication if it were life or death, and then monitored so I wouldn't have the panic attack of all and end up w/heart failure. I can, however, take an ibuprofen. :blushing:

 

 

 

I'm like that with antibiotics. Very often a doc will prescribe them to me, but I will never get up the nerve to take them. If DH is out of town, I will not take them. I did react badly to an antibiotic once, and since then I'm generally convinced I'll go into anaphylactic shock with each dose. Ugh.

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Which reminds me of the thing that I have just pushed out of my mind. I have totally been in denial about it until I read about your well.

We have a "void" under our driveway. It didn't matter so much when the concrete slab was whole. But now that it has been cracked and nearly destroyed by the tree removal guys, it's a little worrisome. Thankfully, the concrete guy will come (barring and storms) and replace the driveway next week. I am not going to see how big the "void" is or wonder how the "void" got there or look too closely at the cracks in the "void" area.

I'm just going back to pretending that the water that diseapears into that crack is going into a little trench or something.

 

I don't park over the "void." That's DH's side of the driveway.

 

 

"The Void" sounds like a great title for a new scary movie, doesn't it?

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That reminds me of the time I told a friend that I had a fear that when I drove down a wooded road a tree might fall over and crush my car. Like you, I laughed it off and said that I know I'm a nut. The friend stopped and looked at me and said that just the week before that very thing had happened to one of her coworkers AS SHE DROVE DOWN THE ROAD TO OUR CHURCH!!!!

 

Hmmmm....not good.

 

Cue the Twilight Zone music now...

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The friend stared at me dead pan and said, "I drove my car into a sink hole in Atlanta. It just opened up right under my front wheels.":eek:

 

quote]

 

This happened to me, too. :eek: Really, though, as car accidents go, it was a pretty gentle one, and left me with no PTSD about sinkholes! Maybe you would be cured if it actually happened to you? :tongue_smilie:

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Oh! I've got more...

Fingernail files - especially Emery Boards. Ugh! Nothing makes my skin crawl more than the thought of filing my nails. I just clip (I'm really good at getting a nice smooth edge with the clippers.)

 

Oh - and, going along with the scared of the dark thing... I don't look in mirrors past midnight. (This one is completely stupid, I know - another childhood thing, though.) Did you ever play or hear of that stupid kid game about Bloody Mary and spinning around 3 times after midnight then looking into a mirror and you'll see a head floating in? Well, I heard that too many times as a kid - and now I just don't look in mirrors if I get up in the wee hours.

 

My oldest is extremely freaked out by emery boards and fingernail files. Sometimes I chase him filing my nails. (Paybacks ya know.) I don't really care for them either, but ds will scream and squirm like a little girl at the sight of someone filing their nails. I hope the Marine Corps does not discover this, LOL. He doesn't seem to have a problem with sanding, though. He doesn't like it, but he can handle it. I can't stand to sand.

 

A friend showed me that Bloody Mary thing once. That's the only time I ever heard of it. Even though I know such things aren't real and knew it then, it freaked me out and I try not to look at mirrors in dark rooms ever since. It doesn't freak me out really, but I sometimes I shudder just a little.

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Whatever the heck else I want? You sure about that? 'Cuz now we're tripping into yet another sensitive issue, that being nose piercings. I can kind of (with effort) manage the idea of a small stud in my nose, but a ring? I can't figure out how you get stuff OUT with that loop of metal clogging up the works. And, tongue piecings.

 

Um. I've gotten way off track here. But, yes indeed, back away from the navel. :glare:

 

I don't really like piercings other than on the ears. The tongue piercings are gross and I've wondered the same thing about the nose rings. The little studs are kinda cute, but I would never get one for just that reason. Still, as long as you leave the belly button alone, I'm willing to say any other piercing is fine. Please don't show me any your bathing suit ought to cover, though. Dh's cousin's wife has a belly ring that she kept in during pregnancy. I remember her showing it off at some family gathering and I had to get away fast. She's one of those who has other piercings as well. Thankfully she isn't showing them at family gatherings.

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...food that jiggles, is capable of jiggling or sliding around in any capacity...(my kids have never had jello, pudding, custard, soft boiled eggs, cranberry sauce, vegetable purees, milk shakes, bean salad, eggs benedict...etc) I also can't be present when other people eat these things...

 

This is especially disturbing, given my rather all consuming fear of knives...you know the implement used to cut up the non jiggly food. When we go to restaurants I have them take the knives away...except now the butter knife. Much growth has brought the butter knife back into our lives. Besides you would be totally amazed by what a fork, spoon or pair of scissors will cut...

 

I also can't eat in front of people when I'm really stressed out...

 

So, why I am not totally SKINNY is seriously beyond me!

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