Lisa, I’m the exact same way. In my case, I’m extremely afraid of heights. Now that isn’t so unusual, or even silly (it seems like a very reasonable thing to be afraid of IMO). We travel a lot, and of course every European city has it’s Cathedral and in most cases you can climb up a very narrow, very old, winding staircase up to the roof platform and get an eagle-eye view of the city & it’s surroundings. My four year old son is absolutly crazy about climbing up, he throws fits if we don’t let him. NOw, his father is perfectly willing to take him up there and watch him, but I, perverse creature that I am, insist on going up too. Why? I trust my husband, and I know that he loves our son and wouldn’t let him get into any harm. No, what I am afraid of is some old tourist (and they can get remarkably old) is going to have a heart attack on the stairs and fall down, knocking everyone down with him. I am conviced that I, with my ample backside, would provide the extra cushioning necessary for my son to survive such an accident. I really should see a professional about this.
Two things really scare me… I can handle any bug but spiders…they make me shiver, the other thing is heights… I cant even stand on a chair to change a light bulb.
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
Lisa, I’m the same way with my kids too. I’m absolutely convinced that if I let my kids go up on tall buildings, or let them play near the ocean shore, or let them walk across bridges, that somehow they are going to fall. Now, I don’t have a fear of heights myself, it’s more like if I let my kids go up to these heights, that they will end up falling to their deaths. I’ve heard too many stories about kids falling through bridges, moms accidentally dropping their babies off of the observation deck at Niagara Falls, etc. Of course, this goes along with the whole “paranoid mom” thing I have about my kids anyways. I still won’t let my five-year-old go outside by herself, unless I go out with her. It’s only been in the last year that I have finally allowed my 12-year-old to visit friends who live on the next block (but no farther than that). The only people who are allowed to babysit my children are my parents or his parents. I just don’t trust babysitters in general.
Shadowfox
“We are what we pretend to be.”
- Kurt Vonnegut
I need to add that I’m not normally a paranoid person. In fact, I’m very laid back and nonchalant about most things, but when it comes to my kids…
Shadowfox
“We are what we pretend to be.”
- Kurt Vonnegut
Oh I can identify with some of these! I have the balloon one,and also the sidewalk grate one!
I also have the elevator plunging one.
oh, yeah, the tires blowing up thing. my 86-yr-old mother will put air in her tires, but i won’t even use the tire gauge the guys at the garage finally gave me! better safe than sorry.
heights, big time since i was a kid. got it from my dad who refused to take me up in a ferris wheel. my mother did, however (nothing scares her. lions & tigers & bears are afraid of my mother.)
i worked very, very hard at not passing the acrophobia on to my kids &, thank goodness, succeeded. all 3 of them are roller coaster freaks, the bigger & faster, the better. however, my daughter is still afraid of ferris wheels. go figure.
oh, yeah, & being caught w/ the handcuffs on the roof thing, too.
Crickets.
They suck.
–
Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com
bees
Totaly irrational stuff:
I understand sidewalk grates. I also hold my breath every time I drive over a tall freeway bridge; I just know that when one breaks during an earthquake the people on the the bridge have a sense of complete surprise and “how can this be happening?” Too vivid of an imagination.
Garbage disposals. Circuit breakers and large plugs, like for washing machines.
Applying jumper cables.
There is an old freight elevator in the building where I have classes which people use as the regular elevator (no others), but it makes ‘odd noises’ in my opinion and I will climb 6 tall flights of stairs rather than use it.
I also had an evening where I was to sleep in a bed which had an unframed bevelled mirror on the wall above the headboard, and I could vividly imagine it falling out of its brackets and decapitating me in my sleep (I moved the bed to the middle of the room).
Nothing here got to me UNTIL Sentinel’s post. At least he/she has a rationale…whereas I have no idea how or why this gets to me. I’d love to take a sailboat cruise, but don’t know how I’d deal with the nights surrounded by dark water. Strangest thing is that when I lived on the beach in So. Cal. I’d find myself occasionally (after a chemical or two) wanting to walk out into the surf at night. Nasty chemicals.
Jeez…how could I forget ‘swimming-in-bodies-of-water-I-can’t-see-the-bottom-of’?
No real reason… It’s just that I’m somehow able to convince myself that if I can’t see the bottom, Sea Monsters live there - everything from Giant Squid to 3 headed Pleiosaurs… ::Shrug:: Go fig…
Eschew Obfuscation
I am full of irrational fears. Spiders bother me, but I believe I have a reason for that. I’m afraid of lake water, not stuff getting on my feet, but microorganisms in it. I’m afraid of poking myself in the eye. I can only force myself to go to the mailbox once a week.
At one time I lived about 3 blocks from the bank that loaned me money for my car, and I always had to check first thing in the morning to make sure they hadn’t repossessed it in the night. The weird thing about that was that I always made the payments; I was afraid that there had been some mistake in giving me the loan in the first place, or that they didn’t process the payment.
Now I’m afraid of my house burning down. I am without heat this winter (thankfully it’s not cold) because I’m scared to have the gas on with a pilot light burning. I saw the people who have a farm across the street burning some brush a couple of days ago and nearly hyperventilated. I have a small panic attack every time I drive up the street until I see my house still standing there.
Other than that, my therapist says I’m perfectly sane.
I’m not sure I’m afraid of heights, but I sure dislike 'em. If I look over the edge of a high balcony or ledge (especially if there’s no rail,) I… well… let’s just say I could probably double or triple the number of posts in this thread if I mention which particular parts of my anatomy start feeling rather unpleasant as I look over the ledge. Let’s leave it at that.
I am afraid of driving, too. Probably due to a nearly disasterous end to an already bad first driving test, coupled with the driving tester himself being the most intimidating man in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.
Since then I have constructed a large and elaborate system of rationalizations around my fear of driving, effectively turning it into a well-reasoned choice: cars are expensive to maintain, polluting, difficult to find parking spots for, et cetera. And as an added bonus, I get a generally nice feeling by railing against the system that demands that to get along in this modern world you just HAVE to have a car.
I can ride in cars just fine usually, which many people take as a sign that I’m not really afraid and I should go over to the DMV and just get it over with. Doesn’t work that way, I’ve had 26 years of riding in cars to get used to. Besides, it’s MY driving I’m concerned about. If I start having to worry about other people’s driving, I’m never getting behind the wheel, thankyouverymuch.
Bridges…small ones are ok…but any longer than a half-mile…I have to close my eyes…which presents a problem if I’m the driver.
Tunnels…I absolutely hate…I’ll take an alternate route if I can…if not I brave it…it’s hard to drive and close your eyes there too…
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
You wanna know something about me…ask me…not my friends…
Glass floors, hmm. In Biosphere 2 the room at the top of the odd little tower is a library. The center of the floor is glass and is directly over the center of the staircase that winds around. It’s at least 40 feet to the ground level below. I could stand on the glass floor and even look down but it was difficult.
I don’t have a problem with bugs in general even though we have all kinds of bitey and stingy ones here in Arizona. Vinagaroons creep me out though even though they’re supposed to be harmless. Regular scorpions that do sting, and let me tell it hurts like a m*****f****!, don’t bother me on an emotional level. I’m not sure what it is about them, the mutant spider appearance or the name that sounds like a Scottish military regiment.
“Popeye? Hm? He’s not much of a judge of women!” King Blozo
OCD people have fears that can’t be logically changed. Weird stuff, that.
Dogs. They’re loud. They bite. And they are immune to reason. Rather like my boss.
But I don’t consider myself afraid or scared of them. I don’t break into a sweat or feel my heart race. I just very calmly walk to the other side of the street – or, if that’s not possible, glare at the owner at I walk past for putting me in danger.
It feels entirely rational to me, although I know it’s not. Does this still count as a phobia?
I share many of the fears as everyone here. Heights is a big one for me. I don’t care too much for roller coasters but I will ride them because I like the adreline rush I get. But just watching someone skydive or bungee jump, even on t.v., makes my palms sweat!
I also have this fear of dying an unnatural, painful death. I don’t know why. I have always said that I don’t take pain well (I do though) and I just don’t want to die of a stab wound or a gunshot wound or a car wreck, etc. I want to die in my sleep when I’m about 80+ years old.
I’m half embarrassed to admit this one… I’m almost 25 years old and am still scared of the dark! I have nightlights all over so I can see my way around at night.
That John Denver’s full of shit man!
Lisa, just FTR, the Golden Gate Bridge people put in some kind of new fencing on the railing so no child can ever fall through again. That was a really awful story. I very much would not like to fall off that bridge. A guy in my high school committed suicide by jumping off.
This is MPSIMS, okay?
~Kyla
“Anger is what makes America great.”