List your irrational fear.

[bbs2k]

Inspired by another thread.

Tell us something that you're scared of even though you recognize, on a rational level, that there is not a reason for it. And I don't mean those common ones. Because I am terrified of spiders even though I know that I will never die from a spider bite, and probably will never even be bitten.

Personally, I can't open mail. Well, I can, but it takes a lot. It's not because I'm lazy, I just really get very anxious by the act.

Also I work in a Blood Bank, and there is an instrument used to separate portions of the blood in plastic tubing for testing purposes. And it freaks me out even though it is a small and harmless device. The first time I used it, it malfunctioned and burned/blew up the tubing causing a little bit of blood to splurt everywhere. And ever since I have been weary.

The mail thing has no explanation.

[Winston Smith]

I'm afraid that it parties unknown get ahold of my fingernail clippings they will use them to make a voodoo doll of me (or something else equally wicked). I'm otherwise pretty well-grounded in reality.

How's that for irrational?

[h.sapiens]

Clowns and ventriloquist dummies. Every time an ad for the movie Dead Silence comes on, I have to leave the room.

[Antigen]

Originally Posted by bigbabysweets2000

Also I work in a Blood Bank, and there is an instrument used to separate portions of the blood in plastic tubing for testing purposes. And it freaks me out even though it is a small and harmless device. The first time I used it, it malfunctioned and burned/blew up the tubing causing a little bit of blood to splurt everywhere. And ever since I have been weary.

I have the same problem with segment openers ever since I pushed too hard on one and broke a tube. No cuts, but damn was I scared when I saw the blood droplets all over my arms, and now I push so gently it takes me a while to get a drop out of the damn thing.

But that's not irrational - blood everywhere means risk of nasty infections. I'll defend your fear, bbs2000!

I have a spider phobia, which isn't at all unusual.

The weird one is my fear of high places because it's not really a fear of falling, it's a fear of flinging myself over the edge on purpose. I'm not suicidal at all, but every time I'm up on a bridge, I'm terrified that I'll run up to the edge and dive off.

[romansperson]

Revolving doors scare the crap out of me. I hate them and will avoid using them if at all possible.

[Dung Beetle]

Well, if fear of spiders doesn't count, I guess I'm all cured, but I used to have quite a phobia about using the phone. Whenever I had to make a phone call, I'd have to take deep breaths and psych myself up for a while first. I would then go into a room alone and close the door so no one could hear me if I panicked and decided to hang up.

I got over my phobia when I got a job answering phones! I had only applied for the job because my mother asked me to. I was certain I wouldn't get it and I didn't want it anyway, so I was quite relaxed during the interview, and bingo! I was hired.

The first word I had to say when answering was "Diagnostic", and the first syllable of Diagnostic is "Die", which is what I wished people would do instead of calling me, so that's how I remembered what I was supposed to say. Now, a few thousand phone calls later, I'm not afraid to use the phone anymore.

[Bibliovore]

Deep Water.

If the bottom is a long way down, I'll get very, very nervous. If I can't even see the bottom and it's deep blue water all the way down, then I'll start frickin' hyperventilating. I feel like I'm suspended there like bait, totally helpless and totally at the mercy of whatever denizen of the deep should choose to surge up beneath me and take a bite.

Curiously enough, I have no fear of heights.

[brewha]

I have a fear of nothing.

For instance, I was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and got quite a ways away from the beach. The water was really clear. I swam a few feet under water and opened my eyes. I saw nothing - and shit tons of it. I had at least 200' of visibility in all directions and there was nothing to be seen. It was like I was suspended in an abyss.

It freaked me out - I surfaced and swam as hard as I could to the shore.


after submiting - Holy crap Book Monster you're not the only one.

[Clockwork And Candy]

Degaussing.

Everytime I turn on my computer monitor I cringe 'cos I just KNOW that this is going to the time it a'splodes in my face.

:/

[Antigen]

Originally Posted by Book Monster

Curiously enough, I have no fear of heights.

Well, that's because there are no sharks and squids and creepy squishy things in the "heights".

[Bibliovore]

Originally Posted by brewha

I have a fear of nothing.

For instance, I was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and got quite a ways away from the beach. The water was really clear. I swam a few feet under water and opened my eyes. I saw nothing - and shit tons of it. I had at least 200' of visibility in all directions and there was nothing to be seen. It was like I was suspended in an abyss.

It freaked me out - I surfaced and swam as hard as I could to the shore.

You Sir, are exceedingly odd.

[Bibliovore]

Originally Posted by Antigen

Well, that's because there are no sharks and squids and creepy squishy things in the "heights".

This may also explain why I like mountains.

[Hal Briston]

Originally Posted by Antigen

I have a spider phobia, which isn't at all unusual.

Same here -- that's my perfectly rational fear.

My irrational fear is giant spiders. Say, Buick-sized or better.

[Dung Beetle]

Originally Posted by Book Monster

I feel like I'm suspended there like bait, totally helpless and totally at the mercy of whatever denizen of the deep should choose to surge up beneath me and take a bite.

True and rational, if'n ya ask me.

[Litoris]

I am exceedingly claustrophobic, but that is grounded in a very real incident from my childhood and not irrational at all. Oddly enough, I LOVE spelunking, but only when I have the control of where we go -- if I can get in, I know that I can get out, kind of thing.

My only "irrational" fear is of cows. Bulls freak me out, but cows just scare the hell out of me. I think it is because they are so friggin huge, you know it wouldn't take much for one of them to kill you and they are so docile-seeming that most people do not practice caution around them. I know of 2 people who were killed by cows -- but funny enough, I have always been afraid of them, even before those 2 people were killed.

Cows are just scary things. Good thing they taste good, so they serve some purpose other than freaking me out.

Those are my only issues. I don't mind spiders, even after having been bitten by a brown recluse. I don't mind snakes (good thing I am not scared of them -- we live in the country, and I have almost stepped on a 6ft rattler before. Fear would have caused me to get bitten, as it happened, I looked down, saw it and backed away slowly before getting back in my car and running the fucker over.) I don't mind heights, needles or anything else, really. I am very easy-going.

brewha, I think your fear makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't consider it irrational, but then again, Idon't consider my fear of cows irrational, just everyone else who has heard me mention it does.

[Missy2U]

Escalators. I have anxiety issues every time I have to be on one.

Crowds. Panic ensues.

Car accidents. I hate being in cars and driving and being a passenger, and everything about it.

Something happening to my son. Stuff of nightmares.




I have issues.

[nonacetone]

Midgets and suspension bridges.

[Bobotheoptimist]

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

I'm afraid that it parties unknown get ahold of my fingernail clippings they will use them to make a voodoo doll of me (or something else equally wicked).

That explains so much!

I don't like deep water, heights, substantial size variances between otherwise identical objects, or wide open space. None of these (except maybe the size thing) is really bad enough to be a "fear", so I'm not sure I should be allowed to play.

Kind of afraid of wolverines, I guess.

[TroubleAgain]

Just the "normal" phobias, claustrophobia and acrophobia. And a whole mixed assortment of anxiety issues that aren't really phobias. Like Dung Beetle I have a "phone" thing, but it's not bad enough to be considered a phobia.

[essell]

Elastic bands. If someone threatens me with one I have to grab it quick, or end up running away and / or curling up into an embarasing ball.

Also, bees and wasps cause an over-the-top reaction from me. Obviously it's not totally irrational coz they could sting me, but I'm dreadly terrified of them.

Conversly, I'm a clostraphile. (if that's a word). My party trick in the my old house was to hide in the tidy little cupboard where we kept the beer, and when someone opened it to grab a bottle, they'd do a double take as I look up at them then I'd close the door before they get any beer. Was most funny to see how many people were too weirded out to open the door again!

[betenoir]

Fear of clowns is not irrational. Any sane person should be afraid of clowns. Clowns are evil. And bad, bad, bad bad. Run from clowns.

Me, I run from sucess. Been pretty good at it to the moment

Sucess is scary. Think I'll just put the blanket back over me head.

[OBJECTION!!]

Originally Posted by Book Monster

Deep Water.

If the bottom is a long way down, I'll get very, very nervous. If I can't even see the bottom and it's deep blue water all the way down, then I'll start frickin' hyperventilating. I feel like I'm suspended there like bait, totally helpless and totally at the mercy of whatever denizen of the deep should choose to surge up beneath me and take a bite.

Curiously enough, I have no fear of heights.

Glad I'm not alone in this. Being in any water in which the bottom goes too far down to see, triggers an ingrained overwhelming fear of enormous carnivorous sea creatures in me. Back when I was a kid, this even prevented me from being the only person in a swimming pool, even though the bottom was clearly visible. It also used to prevent me from going to aquariums or even into deep water in video games (imagine my displeasure when the second Dark Ages of Camelot expansion was revealed as Trials of Atlantis; ended my subscription to my favorite game at the time right quick) (also, I still adamantly REFUSE to go into deep water in the first Jak and Daxter game, because getting eaten by the lurker sharks is animated TERRIFYINGLY). Talk about 'irrational'.

[MikeG]

Dropping my keys down the sewer.

[ScareyFaerie]

Ostriches. It's not exactly a fear but those creatures are vicious and there's just no reasoning with 'em.

[Rushgeekgirl]

Sharp pointy objects. I've had this phobia since I was a child but it's gotten better. When I was younger I was certain I'd lose control and stab myself with a pencil or fork so I avoided them as much as possible. It made doing my schoolwork a nightmare. Now it's mostly limited to needles but I don't wash anything pointy in the sink and I avoid glass drinking glasses because they could break.

I also have a fear of planes crashing. I don't so much have a problem being in a plane, but I have had full-on panic attacks when I see one flying too low. If I'm already feeling anxious about something else just the sound of a low flying plane will set me off. It's just wonderful living so close to Fed-ex, I tell ya! With this phobia I know the source, as I've had nightmares about planes crashing (I'm always on the ground seeing it happen; occasionally I'll be driving and won't be able to stop driving toward the flames of the crash) for years.

[ZipperJJ]

Latex balloons and pressure-sealed cans, a la Pilsbury biscuits.

I do not like to be faced with the idea of a sudden, inevitable popping noise.

[The Chao Goes Mu]

The same abyssmal fear that Brewha and Book Monster described, as well as sharks. Now a fear of sharks may not seem all that irrational, until I tell you that I will not swim in the deep end of a swimming pool at night because I fear that by some unjustifiable means, a shark has entered the pool and is going to eat me from feet to head. I get squirmy in lakes and quarries too. Lakes, especially if the water is murky like it is in good ol' Lake Erie. When I watch Shark Week on discovery I must do so with my feet folded up under me on the couch, never dangling where the insipid Land Shark could chomp down on them.
Why do I watch Shark Week? To try to get over my stupid phobia.
It's not working though since I still will not go into the ocean. Ever.

Yes, I blame Jaws.

[fuffle]

Originally Posted by Clockwork and Candy

Everytime I turn on my computer monitor I cringe 'cos I just KNOW that this is going to the time it a'splodes in my face.

Huh. I thought I was the only one who thought this. I feel better.

[Bambi Hassenpfeffer]

Originally Posted by Antigen

The weird one is my fear of high places because it's not really a fear of falling, it's a fear of flinging myself over the edge on purpose. I'm not suicidal at all, but every time I'm up on a bridge, I'm terrified that I'll run up to the edge and dive off.

Me too. The Empire State Building was easy, cause it was impossible to fling myself off of it, but elevated walkways or pedestrian bridges or tall anything has me afraid I'm just gonna walk to the edge and jump -- just to see what it feels like.

I'm not suicidal or anything, but I do suffer from somewhat poor impulse control.

[taxi78cab]

Someone else said mine between the time I started typing and when I hit Preview?? ZipperJJ, I'm so glad to know someone shares my fear!

Balloons.

See, I'm terrified of loud noises. I know that noise can't hurt me, but I just freak out if I think there's even a chance of a sudden loud noise. (Only sudden noises. Loud music, jack hammering, etc. is ok because it's constant.) So I also am afraid of fireworks/firecrackers, guns, and really close thunder. But those I can avoid them in day-to-day life. Balloons are a little harder to avoid without looking like a freak for being afraid of a container of air. But they might pop. And that would be a sudden noise. And it freaks me right out to where I have to leave the room if a kid is playing with a balloon.

Oh and The Chao Goes Mu, I've started referring to it as the Quantum Shark. That's the shark that appears in a swimming pool through quantum tunneling. It doesn't stop me from swimming, but it does make me nervous about swimming alone.

[Surly Chick]

Originally Posted by Litoris

My only "irrational" fear is of cows. <snip> I know of 2 people who were killed by cows -- but funny enough, I have always been afraid of them, even before those 2 people were killed.

I'm sorry, I know it's a hijack and probably not funny, but I must know how the cows killed your friends. (I know a friend of a friend that was killed by cow but it wasn't intentional - the cow was in the road and she hit it with her car. Its cowness was irrelevant. It could have been any large animal/thing.)

My irrational fear is of being kidnapped and having my hands and feet bound and my mouth taped shut. Just thinking about it can make me hyperventilate.

I'm sorry, I have to go find a paper bag now...

[The Chao Goes Mu]

Here's another one. This kind of fear was mentioned in another thread several months ago. Let me see if I can describe it without collapsing in on myself.

Urk. Icebergs or any mass floating in water. Kind of like this I can't be near it and there's no way in hell that I'd go under it. GAH!!
I do realize the above image is fake but it gets the point across.

At the local quarry that my friends and I go to, I get to cater to all three of my biggest fears. Sharks, because I'm in water and I'm crazy, the abyss, because this quarry has a sudden drop right of about 120 feet and if you want to get out to the rafts, you have to swim over the Big Nothing which you can clearly see because the water is crystal clear. Then as I approach the raft, I want to vomit because the raft is a Floating Mass. My plan of action is to swim very quickly right to the ladder and climb up it before my ticker gives out. If I jump off the raft I swim away from it. There can be no loitering in the water near that Damned Thing.

Oh yeah, and I hate heights too.

[Litoris]

Originally Posted by Surly Chick

I'm sorry, I know it's a hijack and probably not funny, but I must know how the cows killed your friends. (I know a friend of a friend that was killed by cow but it wasn't intentional - the cow was in the road and she hit it with her car. Its cowness was irrelevant. It could have been any large animal/thing.)

To be fair, they weren't "friends" just people I knew of. Both of them died in the same incident. They owned cows and one of the cows had recently given birth. The two of them had gone to feed the herd and somehow had gotten between the mother and calf -- in a fit of cowrage, the cow attacked them and basically stomped their brains into the ground. It was a co-worker's aunt and cousin. He told me the story because he knows that I have always said "don't let the cows fool you, they'd kill you if they got the chance."

The thing is, cows weigh like a brazillian pounds -- if they get you on the ground, you're fuct. Honestly, I think I would feel safer in a cage full of hungry lions than in a 20 acre field inhabited by 3 cows.

[Sal Ammoniac]

My irrational fear? That the appendix is the seat of reason.

[Ellen Cherry]

I guess it's not totally irrational, since I could actually fall down them ... but I have a sort of out-of-proportion fear of some stairs where I work. They are concrete, steep, and have sharp metal plates on the edge of each step. I go up with no problems at all, but if I'm wearing even the most modest heel, when going down I grip the rail with a deadly force. I visualize my head splitting open on those steel edges and lying all broken and crumpled with my head twisted behind, Exorcist style, at the bottom.

Frequently, I take the elevator.

[NinjaChick]

I was recently invited to go sailing this summer with some relatives, and I could barely contain my laughter. You could not possibly pay me enough money to go out sailing, on the ocean (well, Gulf), because it's a very simple fact in my mind: The ocean wants you dead. You can drown. You can freeze to death. You can get eaten by a shark. You can get stung to death by any number of frightening tentacled creatures. There are giant squid. There's so much water. You can go, and be thousands of miles away from anything that will support human life. There's seaweed, which we all know is like death's second cousin. Lakes, rivers, seas, and ponds and such are a bit better but not much. When I go to the beach I go to the beach and get sunburned, and shriek in horror if more than my feet get wet.

Also, it's fairly common knowledge that fish are the most horrifying creatures in the world.

[taxi78cab]

This is so reassuring. I thought I was the only one with weird totally irrational fears. It's great just to know I'm not (entirely) crazy.

[Achren]

Originally Posted by brewha

I have a fear of nothing.

For instance, I was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and got quite a ways away from the beach. The water was really clear. I swam a few feet under water and opened my eyes. I saw nothing - and shit tons of it. I had at least 200' of visibility in all directions and there was nothing to be seen. It was like I was suspended in an abyss.

It freaked me out - I surfaced and swam as hard as I could to the shore.


after submiting - Holy crap Book Monster you're not the only one.

I'm not the only one! Mine has nothing to do with creatures of the deep - even watching that video where they show astronauts training in that huge pool makes me shudder. Ugh. I will say that I think I've got this fear because when I was 3 a neighbor girl of the same age drowned in a swimming class - I've always figured my parents freaked and the freakingness got transfered to me. I just do not like water.
Spider webs - not spiders, their webs. Makes the hair on my head stand up just thinking about it. I blame this on the webs that got built daily on my swingset. They just feel so icky! Similar problem with those tree worm things. Gah. Must go clean my mind out.

[pinkfreud]

All my adult life I've been afraid that I would lose my teeth. My father lost all of his teeth at an early age, and I often have nightmares that my teeth are falling out or rotting away. I take good care of my teeth, and at the age of 59 I haven't lost one yet, but the fear persists.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Originally Posted by NinjaChick

I was recently invited to go sailing this summer with some relatives, and I could barely contain my laughter.

Are you fearful regarding larger boats or ships? For instance, have you gone or would you go on a cruise?

[Snarky_Kong]

Originally Posted by pinkfreud

All my adult life I've been afraid that I would lose my teeth. My father lost all of his teeth at an early age, and I often have nightmares that my teeth are falling out or rotting away. I take good care of my teeth, and at the age of 59 I haven't lost one yet, but the fear persists.

For a while I had dreams where I was biting down hard and my teeth would break. When I woke up I'd be freaked out that I was minus a few teeth. It's never been something I was afraid of longer then the first couple seconds after waking up.

[Beadalin]

Fear of clowns is not irrational. Any sane person should be afraid of clowns. Clowns are evil. And bad, bad, bad bad. Run from clowns.

betenoir, I've got the tee shirt for you:
Fact: Clowns Eat People

[phall0106]

The deep water itself doesn't freak me out (I don't have any problem on boats, for example), but what's on the bottom that I can't see is what completely gives me the heeby-jeebies. I mean, who knows what's on the bottom? The thought of sinking in the water...::shudder::

I'm not to fond of heights either, especially when there's an edge. (I don't have any problems in buildings and looking out windows, for example.) This fear is partly because I'm a klutz and can only imagine myself stumbling and tumbling over the edge to my death.

[gigi]

Originally Posted by romansperson

Revolving doors scare the crap out of me. I hate them and will avoid using them if at all possible.

That used to be one of mine, till I moved to New York and had to exit the subway through the revolving doors that look like egg slicers. I got over it to avoid being trampled or pummeled.

I am afraid of the inside of toilet tanks.

I hate the feeling of flour on my hands.

[gigi]

Originally Posted by Beadalin

betenoir, I've got the tee shirt for you:
Fact: Clowns Eat People

Holy shit. I think you just found the perfect gift for a friend of mine.

[Dunawake]

Originally Posted by Book Monster

Deep Water.

If the bottom is a long way down, I'll get very, very nervous. If I can't even see the bottom and it's deep blue water all the way down, then I'll start frickin' hyperventilating. I feel like I'm suspended there like bait, totally helpless and totally at the mercy of whatever denizen of the deep should choose to surge up beneath me and take a bite.

Curiously enough, I have no fear of heights.

Interestingly, I sort of share this one. I love diving and snorkeling, but only in cases where I can see the ocean bottom. If not the ocean bottom, at least some sort of reference point like an anchor chain. I'm not so bad that I start panicking or anything, I just feel intensely uncomfortable.

If I had to guess, I think it has a lot in common with agoraphobia.

And count me as another person who has a bad phobia of stinging insects. Normal bees who just go about their business are generally fine, but yellow jackets, hornets, wasps, etc.... Well, I imagine people get very amused seeing me run a few feet to the left apparently randomly while walking around outside.

I swear, they follow me!

[Dunawake]

Okay, and for the more irrational fear...I absolutely hate the feeling of Nerf foam on my skin. It's like the tactile equivalent of nails on a chalkboard to me.

[olivesmarch4th]

Originally Posted by Dunawake

Okay, and for the more irrational fear...I absolutely hate the feeling of Nerf foam on my skin. It's like the tactile equivalent of nails on a chalkboard to me.

Wow. I think you win!

I am irrationally and utterly terrified of mold and spoiled food. I can't clean out the refrigerator by myself, and right now the knowledge that there might be something bad in there is driving me up the wall. The other day I was desperately hungry and had to check some cucumbers for soft spots... my hands were literally SHAKING as I opened the bag. I am aware this is not rational. I have no explanation for it. Mold is terrifying and evil and wants to hurt me. End.

[MadPansy64]

I have rational fears by the truckload.

My only irrational fear is those uppy-down bridges. The ones that break in the middle to let a tall boat go underneath. I can't even watch one on TV without breaking into a sweat. I have never seen one IRL, I don't remember ever hearing of any horrible disaster involving one, but seeing one freaks me right the hell out, to the point I refuse to make any effort what so ever to find out their real name -- google might have a picture, don'cha know?

I get a little twitchy even typing about the damn things.

[Dr. Woo]

Fish.
I'm not really really scared of them, but just being scared of harmless fish strikes me as irrational. I'm not talking about sharks or barracudas or stuff that can really hurt you - of course those concern me. No, I'm talking about the regular old workaday fishy fish that swim around you when you're snorkeling or swimming in the ocean. I still like snorkeling, but I do like to have a buddy close by.

I'm also afraid of open ocean when I'm actually in it (as opposed to being on even a small boat - then it's okay).