Tonight I was watching a program about sharks on National Geographic. It was on great whites specifically, and it reminded me how terrified I used to be of sharks. So terrified that I could not close my eyes when I was in water (lake, bath, pool, ocean) without picturing the dorsal fin closing in and the jaws getting ready to clamp down on me. That’s passed mostly. Sharks are a good fear, there’s the Jaws movies to keep the fear current. The problem is I don’t live anywhere near an ocean, and while I plan to be around an ocean again, I’m not sure how soon, so the fear of sharks isn’t really something I need to worry about.
Insects and rodents are OK for fears, but they really can’t hurt me too bad. I don’t live near anything important, so I’m not a likely terrorist target. I’m just looking for some ideas here. Isn’t a little fear healthy? I don’t want a phobia or anything like that. Just something to keep me on my toes, make life a little more exciting. It needs to be something realistic too; nothing paranormal, and no aliens. Robots are kind of a gray area. I suppose they could pose a threat to me, but I don’t know if I have any more reason to fear robots than I do sharks. There’s always the fear of failure too, but that isn’t really tangible enough.
I don’t want anything real long term either if it’s possible. Nothing that will require having to see a psychiatrist; just a brief thing, kind of experimenting with what’s out there.
I don’t mind flying. I don’t mind being in tall buildings or on observation towers as long as there’s a sturdy railing. But don’t expect me to go on a roof or near the edge of a cliff or on a high deck without a rail. This past weekend, I was painting in my living room on a 4’ high scaffold (we’ve got 10’ ceilings) and I was very nervous walking along because there was nothing between me and the floor.
This may be kind of bizarre however I saw a movie when I was considerably younger where a guy grabs another guy by the jaw from behind and breaks his neck. I’ll remember that sound for as long as I live.
Other than getting my hair washed at the local salon, that’s about as far as anyone gets touching the back of my neck!
My absolutely worst fear: falling off a roof with no railing inside a small container with no windows with someone holding on to the back of my neck!
Giant spiders. By “giant”, I mean along the lines of Aragog and the Brood. Which I suppose is really a convenient thing, as deathly fears go. It’s more of the whole “slowly digested from within” way they spiders eat more than anything. I ever run into spiders that size, I’d…well, I suppose I’d just have to wake the hell up.
Snakes. I’ve never been close to a poisonous snake except in a zoo, and most of the ones around my home town were small and harmless. I still never wanted to get near them. I wouldn’t hurt one but I just want to leave them alone.
A few years ago I was coming home at night with bags of groceries. As I walked toward my apartment building I saw what I thought was a stick leaning up against the door frame. When I got closer I realized it was a snake, about 6 feet long, leaning up against the frame, less than six inches from the door handle which I was going to have to use to get inside.
My first instinct was to back up about 20 feet and wait for my heart to start again. Then I yelled “there’s a snake out here” in hopes that somebody would come out to claim it. Nobody did. I finally worked up the nerve to inch closer, all the time telling myself “it’s not going to hurt you, it probably won’t even move toward you.” This didn’t really help. Ultimately I got close enough to put the key in the door, push it open and lunge inside. Of course, the snake barely even moved the whole time.
I went to my apartment and calmed myself, although I didn’t think to call Animal Control. The next morning it was gone, but I still have a tendency to look around more closely when I come in at night.
Heights can bother me at times, but not often. At the Grand Canyon I was quite comfortable getting close to the edge, although I wasn’t going to get too close.
OK, its a kinda pathetic fear, but if a wasp so much as comes near me I either flap my arms and run around trying to get the thing away from me, or freeze up completely. I just can’t stand the things, even thinking about them while I type this makes my heart race,and not the Keira Knightley nibbling my ear good kind of racing heart.
Heights and deep water. I’ve experienced that fear of breaking my glasses (imagine them just falling from my face, as I’m at a height of 10 feet or something equally terrifying!)
Spiders. I have to have Mrs.MeanJoe deal with even the tiniest little spider in the house. Last summer a large brown-ish spider about the size of a quarter made a big web outside our bedroom window. The first time I saw it, I did not sleep for 3 days out of fear of that thing.
Lately, I’ve had repeated dreams about my front teeth crumbling and falling out. No idea where that comes from, other than I had a lot of work done over a year ago on my front teeth (whitening, bonding, etc.). It has freaked me out a bit, but mostly in that “wake up from the dream” freaked out - not day time awake freaked out.
I had a couple of incidents in which I almost chocked on a piece of food. It freaked me out so badly that I worry about choking every time I take a bite of food or have something to drink.
I know a guy that was just walking along when all of a sudden his Achilles tendon detached from his heel. It rolled up the back of his calf like one of those old window blinds on a roller… flap flap flap! He had to have surgery to repair it and it took about a year to rehab.
Forgot to add – I fear slopes, especially stairs going down, rough tracks with loose stones and seemingly no place to safely plant my feet without tumbling down.
I go down slopes anyway, I give the finger to the fear. But my knees shake still.
