You should’ve pointed out it could trigger a seizure in someone with photosensitive epilepsy. Not all that likely, but at least he’d change the damned thing.
I get anxiety at the sound of chewing gum, loud breathing, or other repetitive noises. I’m not sure what turns something normally easy to tune out into utter hell, but I suddenly realize it exists at some point, the noise.
And then, when the noise continues, my heart beats faster and faster. I start to scream curse words in my head at the top of my lungs. I move twitchily and speak monotone to whomever is around, and I certainly cannot concentrate on anything.
The only way to deal with it is to give up on whatever the immediate task is and just listen to the noise. It’s still hell, it still controls my entire consciousness, but at least I can sit still instead of bursting into tears, fleeing the room, or cussing out loud.
I’ve gotten so good at tolerating these repetitive intrusions I can at times do casual tasks, like folding laundry or other routine/mindless things without giving off any cues.
The only way to calm it back down, and it’s not truly a cure for the anxiety, but a necessary evil, is headphones with white noise. I can put on the headphones any time I want. But, once on, I can’t talk interact with people normally because I can’t hear them. Also, it’s kind of offensive if I were to put headphones on in front of the person chewing gum, etc, so I don’t.
If I were to legitimately have no escape from repetitive noises, I have no idea what I would end up doing. Something that looks horribly exaggerated in response to a seemingly benign situation for everyone else, though.
If I see someone chewing gum loudly I want to whack them. But I usually just stare at their mouth, I can’t stop myself. The nurse practitioner at my clinic does gum smacking chewing. I really hate her. I try to be nice. But. No. I cannot abide her and her stupid smacking mouth. I hear she pregnant, maybe she’ll be a stay at home mom. Please. God. Let her have twins.
Here I was thinking I didn’t have any triggers, and then I see your post. Yes, this was one.
Like you, it was a very rare occurrence – but I hated it enough that I put up a sturdy gate on the driveway and dropped passive-aggressive boulders/felled trees to block every other access to quads.
Haven’t had any unexpected “visitors” since, and that was nearly 12 years ago. Worth it. I love company but only if I’m expecting them.
Getting buried alive. I can’t stand the thought of it happening to me.
I dropped by a friend’s house after my brother’s funeral, and they were watching an episode of Leverage. The opening scene was a guy waking up in his coffin after he had been buried. I asked them to watch something else before I had a panic attack.
Yeah, you don’t wanna watch Serpent & the Rainbow then.
You know we all probably have a mental picture of posters we like to read. I have to add this on to your list of “positive attributes”.
Dennis
Pitcher of iced sweet tea & box of 3.5 inch #00 shotgun shells on the porch next to a battered rocking chair occupied by a lanky and impatient well-armed guardian in pigtail braids & baseball cap…tapping away at a laptop.
What I hate about supermarkets is encounters with random crazies. I was trying to steer a cart with a bad wheel, and I briefly brushed past a woman’s large ass. I said excuse me, but that wasn’t enough for her. She loudly called me every name in the book, and even a few that were new to me. Then she followed me through several aisles, constantly berating me. I had to leave the store to escape from her.
It’s OK to punch people who behave that way. In fact, rampant incivility due to lack of consequence is a growing social problem–its active discouragement is practically a civic duty.