What are you afraid of?

[Andrew NDB]

What are you afraid of? What really terrifies you?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Nothing.

10char

[CyberCubed]

In the real world nothing, but there's always the irrational fear of sharks or alligators/crocodiles when you go swimming even if you know they likely aren't there.

I just do not trust wildlife. Every time you hear on the news of children eaten by sharks or crocodiles, or a tiger and lion attacking someone at a zoo or nature preserve, it gives me the heebie jeebies.

[The Deadman]

I have a fear of heights and to a lesser extent, tornadoes. After seeing what they can do, I really dont want to experience that, ever.

[newfan]

Irrational fears?
None in reality, cyborgs/androids/robots scare the hell out of me if I dream about them but obviously no fear of that in reality.

Rational, nothing particularly, there are things that would scare me in life if I had to face them like most but that's different. I'm out of bed in the night if I hear a noise, an intruder would terrify me but I don't go to bed scared about it (except a few years ago when two men broke into my neigbours home at night but that passed shortly afterwards)

[Cure]

Just the dark. Put me in a room full of spiders or snakes or...heights...and whatnot and I'll be fine. Put me in an unfamiliar dark room and I'm done.

[Andrew NDB]

Myself, just deathly afraid of flying. I mean, I do fly, but it's never not horrific. I'll start sweating and gripping the armrests and making everyone around me nervous.

That and probably swimming in super dark water where you can't see the bottom.

[TurtleWA]

A couple months ago two different near by households had trouble keeping their dogs from running in my yard. I was Afraid that one of the dogs would get my cat and kill it. One of the dogs even tried running in my house through the front door. I had opened the door to see what was going on outside. However things seem to be going fine now, knock on wood.

[IndigoErth]

Needles...

There have been at least a couple of occasions that I've tried to pass out, and other times gotten a little funny headed. Including the last time I actually had blood drawn a few years ago (and only the second time in my life). I didn't pass out, but I had to hang out for a bit in their nice chair in the corner meant for patients who need to get their head clear first before leaving the room... (I just hung out while they took the next patient who did much better than me.)

This is also the primary reason why, at the age of 16, I refused to get knocked out in order to get my wisdom teeth removed. I DID NOT what that IV. (Nor had I ever been knocked out before.) My dentist agreed to do it, despite it not being his preference to do so, and did it for me while I was wide awake and shot up with plenty of "Novocaine"... Note, I also really hate THAT needle in the mouth, but... I guess at least I can't see it and doesn't go as deep, but I still stress out over it.



Honorable mention... Wasps. Oh HELL no. Not many critters bug me, not even most spiders, but if it flies, stings badly, AND can be easily angered... Wtf, universe, what were you thinking. Like a creature born to be the embodiment of rage, esp those damn yellow jackets.

Ironically though, I kind of love the Bald-faced hornets, they're rather pretty. Despite the fact that they are supposedly quite aggressive and in fact a type of wasp, not a hornet. But since they're built like a hornet I guess they just aren't as creepy looking as those big, skinny brown and black wasps we have. Plus they don't go lurking around you like those do and tend to stick closer to their hive.

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

In the real world nothing, but there's always the irrational fear of sharks or alligators/crocodiles when you go swimming even if you know they likely aren't there.

I used to get that panic/fear so bad when I was a little kid, I could be in the pool at my abuelos old apartment complex and I'd have to scramble out of the water and turn around to make sure there were no sharks in the pool with me. I think seeing Jaws at a really young age f#cked me up

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

swimming in super dark water where you can't see the bottom.

This.

For me, it all comes back to sharks.

[newfan]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Needles...


Honorable mention... Wasps. Oh HELL no. Not many critters bug me, not even most spiders, but if it flies, stings badly, AND can be easily angered... Wtf, universe, what were you thinking. Like a creature born to be the embodiment of rage, esp those damn yellow jackets.
.

I'll relate there. When I was in NY I was told that what we call Wasps are Yellow Jackets there, something black was pointed out to me as a Wasp. Anyway, last year my car had been covered in tree sap, there were a few wasps (yellow jackets) on and around it, I was not feeling happy about trying to get in it

[ProactiveMan]

Heights. I get vertigo if I look down from foot-bridges and balconies, and I start to freeze up if I'm near the edge of anything more than three stories high.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Myself, just deathly afraid of flying. I mean, I do fly, but it's never not horrific. I'll start sweating and gripping the armrests and making everyone around me nervous.

And then I see articles like this...

http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/17/woman-...lodes-7475558/

F***ing horrifying... the most horrifying thing of all.

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

For me, it all comes back to sharks.

I guess I'm less afraid of the ocean than, like, a lake somewhere. If it's dark water... it's not even that I'm expecting something to grab me or try and eat me. It's just the not knowing what's under there. Could be a dead body or a skeleton, some weeds that will tangle me up, glass, etc..

[Krutch]

Drive-bys or random acts of unprovoked viscious violence.

[triplexxx]

In terms of genuine phobia, definitely bees/wasps/hornets, anything falling under any of the categories, that fly/buzz/sting.

[Roseangelo]

The thought of being trapped in a burning building has never sat well with me. Or other fire-related situations.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Not really "afraid" of much, though I am uneasy in high, open places like walkways or balconies more than four stories up. My biggest "fear", though, is my spouse having an insulin reaction when I am not there. I am more worried about coming home to find him in a coma or worse, than of anything else at all.

[Prowler]

Having a heart attack, a stroke or getting cancer one day.

[DarkFell]

The dark is a pain to navigate through, but it can be doable. (Just bring a light.)

Needles will always suck for me. I hate the pain that stems from insertion & withdrawal.

Heights? Part of me feels a bit uneasy about them. Then again, I'm thankful for all of the crazy roller-coaster rides that I would ride.

Depths? I might have had that phobia as a kid: there was something enticing and intimidating at having an underwater view of the shallow part of a public pool, dip towards the deep end. It was like "I can see the floor slope downward from here, but if I swim towards it, will I drown from not making it back up towards the surface in time? (Drowning might have been a fear that I might have had.)

Both Prowler's & Krutch's fears relate to me more. Heart-attacks have been common in my family, and the neighborhood that I reside in, doesn't totally support the Neighborhood Watch program.

[newfan]

I had CBT about 2 years ago for health anxiety because I went through a stage where I was worried something was wrong with my heart, caused a real worry that I would not be around to rasie my children. Though of course this is still something that would concern me I no-longer feel that same worry (or have the symptoms)