Crowds, but it’s more of a growing intense dislike than fear. I’m just over them. I do sense a creeping lack of confidence in social interaction; I hope it creeps slowly enough that I don’t end up with full-blown agoraphobia in my waning years.
The kids may indeed be alright, and Earth abides, but those masters degrees by themselves are impressing me about as much as patents of nobility.
People.
I have a fear of being touched by people without explicit discussion and consent. Random “escort” touches men seem to give without thinking, bumps in passing in narrow grocery aisles, TSA frisking (I don’t fly any more, this one is so significant), friends who think “lemme just massage her shoulders” like George W Bush did to Angela Merkel, all of that.
Economic collapse.
When the next bubble bursts, it will be as bad or worse than 2008, and there won’t be much the government(s) can do to fix it. So there will probably be very high inflation…and I’ll be retired, with zero income except for my savings.
We have a friend with your fear. We have agreed that if his worst fear is realized we will take his dog into our pack. Any chance of you working out a similar safety net?
My fear of falling downstairs is totally all consuming pathologically batshit insane.
Of course, last time I did it I popped off my left wrist bone.
Heights, definitely.
I first discovered a fear of heights at about age 26, when I accidentally got on the express elevator in the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta (it’s a 45-story “atrium” hotel with glass-walled elevators). It went all the way to the top. By the time I got back down I was clinging to the doors.
Since then I’ve managed to force myself to zip line a couple of times, and disliked the first step-off intensely both times. Recently I rode one of the longer Metro elevators in DC, and had to turn to the side and hold onto that railing with both hands and Not Look Down. That might have been better if it had been more crowded.
Roads with dropoffs on the other hand, I can handle. I just don’t look at the edge, I focus on the road itself.
Car accidents. Driving on busy freeways and icy/snowy roads never bothered me much when I was in my 20s. Now I get super anxious and I try to avoid them. Part of it was moving from a big city to a rural area. I lost a lot of confidence in handling heavy traffic, plus I’ve known way too many people who were injured or killed on icy roads in the area where I currently live.
Nothing comes to mind, I find myself worrying less and relaxing more as I get older.
My fear is that will I live to be 93 like my mom did ! :eek:
I’m a solitary person. There is one person who has offered to take my dog; however, not the kind of person I’d entrust with my pooch. Pooch is going on 13, has some health issues, I’m reasonably healthy right now, so I’m just keeping my fingers crossed.
Your friend is lucky to have you.
Fear of traffic.
I have been an ear-witness to seven or eight accidents in the intersection nearest our home and have seen the aftermath of them all from my bedroom window. There have been two more at the next intersection to the east, which we could partly see from my sister’s bedroom window. I also saw a woman and her baby nearly get hit by a pick-up truck when they were starting to walk across that first intersection last month.
Many of these were only fender-benders but a few have been quite serious. All of these were just this year! And they all appeared to me to be because one or both parties simply weren’t paying attention to the traffic lights and what was going on around them.
I was hit by a car while walking across an intersection a few years ago, though “lightly bumped” is really the correct term. Just enough to make me fall but not get hurt. I had the light and was in front of the stopped car when he started slowly moving forward. He had been waiting for a break in the traffic so he could turn right, and was still looking left as his opening presented itself. The driver was very apologetic and cooperative and called me afterward to see that I was OK. Overall, I simply considered it to be a good lesson for his sixteen-year-old son, whom he was taking to pick up the keys to his first vehicle.
But I guess that started me thinking how fragile a body is against a big, solid object like a car. Now, all these accidents in such a relatively short time so close to my home, well, it makes me nervous. I’ve always been cautious crossing the road but now that’s edging into scared territory.
Flying, like** Loach**, and running out of beer.
Clowns
As I have gotten older please don’t let me die in my bedroom and allow me to at least clean up the place before you discover my corpse.
well, you sure have the perfect username! 