What strange things make you anxious? JAWM

[Halcyon]

I know I am weird. DH has told me so. But gosh darn it, if the oddest things don't make me anxious. Like tomorrow, I have jury duty. And I am anxious! Why? Well, the kids won't do their work as well without me there, so there's that. There's the thought that I can't control how long I will be there, or how many days. There's all the millions of things that I can't do while I am there that I feel I NEED to do. And what if I say the wrong thing? See? I am weird. I also break out in hives over the thought of being audited. When we first moved here 3 years ago, we were audited WHILE we were in the middle of our move. I was a mess. And it's not that we don't keep good records; we do! DH is pretty meticulous. But the records were in transit, and for some reason, I just felt like a criminal despite having done nothing wrong. And it all turned out fine, with the tax guy saying he hadn't seen such good records for a sole proprietorship in a long time.

 

So it seems that anything having to do with official government business pretty much makes me puke. :closedeyes:

 

And you? What's your weird anxiety-producing thing?

[Farrar]

Writing thank you notes makes me feel sick. Long story.

 

I dread phone calls too... but I don't think that's that unusual, actually.

 

It seems normal to me to feel anxious about jury duty because it's unknown, like you said. Anything where you might be there for three hours or three months seems like it *should* induce anxiety.

[NotSoObvious]

Not enough bathrooms for large groups of people. My family watches the ball drop on TV and all I can think of is, "what if one of those people needs to go to the bathroom?" Then I have anxiety and start looking for the nearest port-a-potties.

 

Ridiculous, I know.

[sparrow]

That all sounds like pretty normal, anxiety inducing stuff.

 

I get anxious opening e-mail messages I've been waiting to receive. I hold off and read other messages.

[Hockey Mom]

I dread phone calls as well - making and receiving them. It's like the people on the other line are speaking in a foreign language...it's so hard for me to understand/hear what they are saying.

 

I get anxious on the interstate. Specifically, driving next to an 18-wheeler (which is really silly because they drive better than most car drivers). I have to distract myself from watching when we're on the interstate.

 

A recent heart-pounder, irrational fear that came from out of nowhere...ferris wheels. I'm not scared for ME...I'm terrified one of my boys (daredevils) will try to look over too much and fall out. Irrational, but I can't help it.

[Outdoorsy Type]

Anything that has to do with big groups of people. Phone calls, especially to people I don't know. Long lines. Not being able to find a bathroom. I'm a hair away from being agoraphobic.

[Halcyon]

I dread phone calls as well - making and receiving them. It's like the people on the other line are speaking in a foreign language...it's so hard for me to understand/hear what they are saying.

 

I get anxious on the interstate. Specifically, driving next to an 18-wheeler (which is really silly because they drive better than most car drivers). I have to distract myself from watching when we're on the interstate.

 

A recent heart-pounder, irrational fear that came from out of nowhere...ferris wheels. I'm not scared for ME...I'm terrified one of my boys (daredevils) will try to look over too much and fall out. Irrational, but I can't help it.

 

 

Oh my gosh! Me too! Glad to see that there are a few of us! I hate making calls, and I rarely pick up the phone unless I have to. I am getting better at it (which probably accounts for the uptick in my business..ya think???) but I would rather text or email any day of the week.

[Desert Rat]

Not enough bathrooms for large groups of people. My family watches the ball drop on TV and all I can think of is, "what if one of those people nee to go to the bathroom?" Then I have anxiety and start looking for the nearest port-a-potties.

 

Ridiculous, I know.

 

I'm not alone!! This is my major problem, too. And Halcyon, it's why I hate jury duty. What if I have to go to the bathroom? I don't know where the bathrooms are and freak until I find out where they are. Same with driving in cars. I'm anxious until we get where we're going. I'm a weirdo and thank goodness my dh is kind and understanding. I can't tell you how many times I've asked him to find me a bathroom. He puts up with so much!

[SJ.]

Swimming. I've been meaning to make a thread about it but I am avoiding it because when I think seriously about it I get very anxious.

[unsinkable]

I dread not finding a parking spot.

 

I say I'd drive to Calfornia as long as I knew I had a parking spot.

[AK_Mom4]

Swimming. I've been meaning to make a thread about it but I am avoiding it because when I think seriously about it I get very anxious.

 

:iagree: :iagree:

 

Me too! A friend was trying to talk me into a triathalon this summer (we would start training now), but when I found out one of the events was swimming, I chickened out. I CAN swim, but it makes me panicky.

[shanvan]

Too many things to list, but I'll try..

 

- definitely phone calls, as mentioned before. I'm much better about them than I used to be.

 

- driving to new and unfamiliar places (especially in a big city) and finding my way into a building, especially when there are multiple entrances. Many times, I will try to do a trial run before the day that I need to be in a new place. Once I made Dh drive with me into a big city while I 'practiced' driving and parking, and finding my way into the huge hospital to the right doctor's office. I've done it with other new places too. It must be nice not to have to make such compensations.

 

- public speaking or teaching. I was a public school teacher for years before homeschooling, but I still get nervous when I start teaching a new class. I'm already a little anxious about the public speaking class I will teach in a couple of weeks.

 

- meeting new people. I'm always afraid I'll say the wrong thing. I did so just yesterday, but I don't want to think about that anymore!

 

- dog shows, and this is the worst b/c that's Dd's extracurricular. I can really rev myself up about these. I worry about the directions, finding the right entrance, finding a place for the crate and the grooming, not being on time, losing the paperwork, etc. Part of it is b/c I do the grooming. I get so nervous that Dd won't be able to control the dog, that he'll get away, that I'll make a mess of his grooming. She showed this weekend and while she was in the ring I was so bad that my hands were shaking like I'd just had a ton of caffeine! No one can believe how nervous I get.

[dbmamaz]

being around my family is the thing that makes me the most anxious. In fact, about 15 years ago the ex pointed out that EVERY time we were going to see family, his or mine, i got sick. I havent spoken to my sister in 3 years. my daughter is living with my mom and we have not had any communication for about 6 days now ... ever since i told my daughter she SHOULDNT email me, she should CALL the insurance company, because THEY actually hate the information she wants and I dont. and then she wrote back saying "Fine, i wont contact you then." i am thinking that sounds rather pleasant. (long story)

 

its funny, driving doesnt stress me out, but i have had recurrent dreams for decades about being lost in a city on a highway. I've NEVER gotten lost while i was driving, only if I fell asleep and someone changed roads while I was asleep, and I had to navigate them back on route. so i really wonder what's with that dream.

 

right now i'm pretty anxious because i have an upcoming knee surgery. I've never had a surgery before. Only stitches, twice. and i guess my wisdom teeth, does that count?

[Word Nerd]

Heavy traffic makes me feel anxious and claustrophobic. I also hate making and getting phone calls.

[Upward Journey]

So it seems that anything having to do with official government business pretty much makes me puke. :closedeyes:

 

And you? What's your weird anxiety-producing thing?

 

 

Pretty much that :)

 

and some other things....

[Upward Journey]

Heavy traffic makes me feel anxious and claustrophobic. I also hate making and getting phone calls.

 

 

oh and that too. Yup. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

[beaners]

Everything. Just ask my husband.

[Jennifer in MI]

Me? Being sick. I am so scared of it! I always wonder, "what if this is the end? What if I don't get better?". I worry about my kids when they get sick for the same reasons. It's horrible and I hate it.

 

The saddest thing is that my daughter is the same way. I have never shared my fears with her, but they are there!! She once got a stomach ache after eating and refused to eat for days after!!! It was a very scary time for us.

[lllll]

..

[melissad2]

I don't like phone calls either. Text messaging is awesome and I think everyone should do it :)

 

I get anxious before a trip. Even it is somewhere we've been before. I mean what if I FORGET MY TOOTHBRUSH or something equally as ridiculous. We aren't vacationing in Siberia...there is a Walmart/CVS/Walgreens on every corner!

[NoseInABook]

Anything phone call related makes me nauseated. Driving slowly across the train tracks too.

[HappyLady]

Everything. Just ask my husband.

 

 

 

LOL! Same here! I don't agree for a second, though. :tongue_smilie: But some things that make me anxious are driving through construction zones, having to drive anywhere unfamiliar, especially if people have to follow me there, cooking for other people, meeting new people, public speaking, educating my own children, keeping my family healthy, having to discuss issues that I know a lot about (because I forget everything as soon as people ask me a question)....... Hmmmm..... maybe my DH was right. LOL

[unsinkable]

When I was pregnant with # 3 I couldn't sleep bc I was so worried about rescuing all 3 of them if I drove the car into a body of water.

[GSOchristie]

Phone calls! It is a huge joke among my friends and family that I am allergic to my phone, I don't know if I've ever answered a cal that is not my dh, mom or sisterl. Ever.

 

I am afraid of the economy collapsing and having to live in a homeless shelter. Terrified of this, really. My dh is a photographer so I feel we would be among the first to suffer during an economic meltdown. I sometimes lie awake at night playing scenes over and over in my head until I am nauseated.

[kitten18]

Writing thank you notes makes me feel sick. Long story.

 

I dread phone calls too... but I don't think that's that unusual, actually.

 

It seems normal to me to feel anxious about jury duty because it's unknown, like you said. Anything where you might be there for three hours or three months seems like it *should* induce anxiety.

 

:iagree: I would also be worrying about the parking, thinking about what the parking situation is going to be.

 

 

The lights just went out in the Super Bowl, and I'm going to have a panic attack. Eek.

[GSOchristie]

When I was pregnant with # 3 I couldn't sleep bc I was so worried about rescuing all 3 of them if I drove the car into a body of water.

 

 

Me, too! When I just had Asher, we lived in Louisville, and I was terrified every time I had to drive over those bridges. When we got pregnant with Jax I used to lie awake planning how I would stuff him in my shirt and put Asher in front of him.

[violamama]

I hate HATE animatronics. Like at Christmas, those freaky plastic deer in people's yards make my skin crawl. I have to look away.

 

I also have a weird thing where if I can see myself completing a task from start to finish, then I hate to do that task. Like the dishes. Or writing an email. Sometimes it helps if I start it out in a different way or somehow change up the order.

 

Groups of young kids running around, even when they're having fun.

 

I have more, but being a bore is another of my anxieties...

[SBMama]

Phone calls from numbers I don't recognize make me anxious. Also receiving thank you letters makes me anxious. I'm not sure why, thank you notes are usually kind right? Watching movies that I've already seen before...I get anxious about what I know is going to happen, even if it is pretty harmless.

[unsinkable]

 

 

Me, too! When I just had Asher, we lived in Louisville, and I was terrified every time I had to drive over those bridges. When we got pregnant with Jax I used to lie awake planning how I would stuff him in my shirt and put Asher in front of him.

 

 

This makes me teary-eyed. You still have littles, too.

 

((((Hugs, Christie))))

[Critterfixer]

Filling out any form. I never can remember numbers when I need to.

High places when my children are with me. I don't like them myself and worry about the boys falling.

Swinging bridges. Can't stand the things.

Water with dead trees in it makes my skin crawl.

[amyable]

The usual phones/bridges ... and my family getting a stomach virus, and anyone older than childhood age falling asleep in the same room with me when they should be awake (like anywhere NOT in their bed). Or even just resting their eyes. Right now the only offender is DH, and I'm always like, "Is he sick? Is he in pain? Is he just tired? Should I be keeping the kids quiet? ACK, what am I supposed to DOOOO!" :chillpill:

 

ETA: I forgot anything to do with cities (unfortunately I live near a big one) and someone breaking into my home. There have been a bunch of break-ins in my town in the past few months where the people have been home. I'm terrified of that happening and don't sleep well anymore. I guess that's not technically "strange" but I know people (*cough* dh *cough*) would tell me my level of anxiety about it is irrational. Yeah, buddy, you're not the one they are going to find and kill first. :crying:

[dbmamaz]

oh, travelling, omg. i was such a wreck when we went to Canada a few years ago to visit dh's family. I felt like I was going to be sick, for weeks ahead of time. I planned out everything really carefully. Dh even thanked me for organizing it so well. but even tho the trip wasnt that bad, i dont want to do it again cuz i just dont want to go through that anxiety of the planning stage again.

 

teaching my kids, yeah, thats a good one.

 

i'm the only one w family anxiety, huh?

[butterflymommy]

I just wrote out a list of some of the stuff I'm afraid of, and it looked so pathetic I had to delete. but pretty much anything involving spoken conversation, or travel, induces severe anxiety in me.

[MtnMama]

I feel the same way about jury duty, phones and parking. Also trips in general and air travel in particular. I'm not afraid of the plane crashing, I just hate that the entire thing is out of my control. I travel occasionally for my job and I obsess and worry about it. I hate that other people go through this too, but at the same time I'm glad it's not just me. If that makes any sense at all :).

[Annie Laurie]

Going to the dentist makes me anxious. I also feel anxious about jury duty. I got a summons to the jury of a district court when my youngest was like 10 days old and nursing and I about flipped out. I knew they would excuse it, and they did, but I still got myself all worked up anyway. Dh kept trying to reassure me that if they didn't excuse it, he'd go sit outside in the hallway and insist the baby had to see me whenever he needed to nurse. That wouldn't have been stressful or anything.

[ChristusG]

When I was pregnant with # 3 I couldn't sleep bc I was so worried about rescuing all 3 of them if I drove the car into a body of water.

 

 

I think of this every time I go across a bridge. I wonder how in the world I would save myself and three children. It's a scary thought.

 

Not enough bathrooms for large groups of people. My family watches the ball drop on TV and all I can think of is, "what if one of those people needs to go to the bathroom?" Then I have anxiety and start looking for the nearest port-a-potties.

 

Ridiculous, I know.

 

 

Oh my gosh, I say the SAME thing every single year when I see all those people on TV! I'm like "what the heck?? Do they just wear Depends????"

 

 

Me? Being sick. I am so scared of it! I always wonder, "what if this is the end? What if I don't get better?". I worry about my kids when they get sick for the same reasons. It's horrible and I hate it.

 

The saddest thing is that my daughter is the same way. I have never shared my fears with her, but they are there!! She once got a stomach ache after eating and refused to eat for days after!!! It was a very scary time for us.

 

 

I am the same way!! I hate being sick.....when vacations are coming up, I have this dreaded fear that we'll get sick and it will all be ruined. We're leaving for Disney on Wednesday and I am really afraid of the flu and norovirus going around. I'm completely paranoid that one (or all) of us will come down with something!

[Joanne]

It is difficult to desribe. I have an anxious, physicially meaasurable response to some patterns in physical objects. It's weird, but some patterns freak me out. I can't see if therenis a pattern to it because I don't study or think of them long enough to determine.

 

Some examples include vehicle grids, some complicated fencing, once it was the way a piece of wood had broken; the jagged edge made me twitchy.

 

I secretly think of it as my brain glitch.

 

[Halcyon]

I don't like phone calls either. Text messaging is awesome and I think everyone should do it :)

 

I get anxious before a trip. Even it is somewhere we've been before. I mean what if I FORGET MY TOOTHBRUSH or something equally as ridiculous. We aren't vacationing in Siberia...there is a Walmart/CVS/Walgreens on every corner!

 

 

Me too. When we travelled as a family to Italy 2 years ago for A MONTH I was a wreck. I mean, yes, Italy--woohoo! I was happy, but I was also a wreck since I was basically in charge of everyone's stuff, except for DH's. And the passports, and birth certificates and driver's licenses and cash and......{shudder}

[Meriwether]

When I was pregnant with # 3 I couldn't sleep bc I was so worried about rescuing all 3 of them if I drove the car into a body of water.

I thought I was the only one who did this.

[lovemykids]

Homeschool co-ops. :laugh: :confused1:

[Halcyon]

Going to the dentist makes me anxious. I also feel anxious about jury duty. I got a summons to the jury of a district court when my youngest was like 10 days old and nursing and I about flipped out. I knew they would excuse it, and they did, but I still got myself all worked up anyway. Dh kept trying to reassure me that if they didn't excuse it, he'd go sit outside in the hallway and insist the baby had to see me whenever he needed to nurse. That wouldn't have been stressful or anything.

 

 

I get myself all worked up too. :grouphug:

[texasmama]

I have a terrible fear of getting locked in our large safe and not being able to get out. It is airtight so I would die after the oxygen runs out. How would I get locked in there? The heck if I know! I don't even know if I'd fit! That's not the point. If I did, I would die a horrible death. Apparently I enjoy torturing myself with these thoughts. I think that is really, really weird.

[amyable]

Homeschool co-ops. :laugh: :confused1:

 

 

Me too! When we were part of one, I would spend days before hand worrying about my teaching part. When I realized I was a mess for my OWN family at home for much longer than that 45 minutes I was helping anyone at co-op, we left and I haven't joined one since.

[Whereneverever]

I thought I was the only one who worried about the car in water thing! It's especially bizarre in my case because there is almost no water here.

[Forget-Me-Not]

I have to stop reading this thread. You all are adding to my mental Rolodex of Worries!!

[Paige]

Phone calls. I put them off so long and avoid them at all costs. I would pay $5 extra just to get pizza at a place that lets me order online vs one that requires me to call. The weird thing is that once I have to speak, I am fine. It's that first word or sentence that makes me anxious.

 

Bridges over water. I am always mentally planning how I will get all my kids to safety if we fall in the water. I've always wondered why car seats can't be removable and inflatable. Ridiculous, I know.

 

Driving in areas where the signs say "watch for fallen rocks." Yeah, I'm watching!

 

Toll booths

 

Driving somewhere new and wondering if I can find the parking lot.

 

DH thinks I have issues.

[Mommy22alyns]

I get anxious over phone calls. I'll tell you what's really weird, sometimes I get anxious about my replies online! If I see someone quote me, my stomach drops a little while I figure out if that was a good or a bad thing. I get anxious over paying for things because money isn't that plentiful. I get anxious about trying to go somewhere new - I'm worried that I won't find it or I won't find parking. I can't drive in downtown areas.

[kwickimom]

Puking. Puking in public. My kids puking in someone else's car or house.

 

Like my friend just told me her kid I watched Friday and who was at church today just puked. And we're going with a friend to the Magic House tomorrow over an hour away and now I am going to be anxious the whole entire time that one of my kids will get sick. I am leaving my youngest at daycare while we go. What if he gets sick while I am gone? There's no one to get him and I will be stuck that far away with someone else as my ride.

 

UGH. So anxious. I am never gonna sleep.

[GSOchristie]

 

 

This makes me teary-eyed. You still have littles, too.

 

((((Hugs, Christie))))

 

 

Aawww, thank you!

 

Now I have Piper inside my shirt, Jax on the front and Asher holding on to my neck. I watched this episode of the today show where they particpated in this simulated car in water thing. I guess I never thought about it being pitch black and disorienting because the car can flip. I would have to get everyone out of their carseats in the dark (they're all still 5 pt harnessed), get them in position, somehow explain what we were going to do, while I'm sure everyone is screaming at the tops of their lungs. <<shudder>>. Thankfully, we live no where near any large bodies of water, and only rarely drive over the small ones around here.

[Hockey Mom]

I would quote you Mommy22, but I *get* what you are saying. ;)