Balloons. It might sound kind of wierd, but its not like I run screaming the instant I see a balloon in my field of vision- rather, if there is a balloon close to me, particularly behind me and near my head, I get tense and nervous. I am easily startled, and when popped balloons emit a noise that 99% of the time causes me to jump. Obviously if I am doing something like standing on a ladder or holding sharp objects, unconciously jerking my body is not a good thing.
The kids at the tutoring center annoy the hell out of me with this, because its hard to hide the fact that I don’t like balloons near me. Once they figure this out, they predictably shove the damn things in my face while pinching and squeezing the balloon to make it look like its about to pop :mad:
Jayn_Newell and faithfool, I’m with you on the phone phobia! I try to make other people make my phone calls for me. I don’t even feel comfortable calling my own father! There are only four people I can ring without problems: my grandma, my mother, my brother and my SO.
Yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, I wandered into the kitchen wondering what to fix for dinner. I noticed what looked like either a dirty sock or a pile of dog hair on the floor. I bent over and was about to pick it up when it lifted its little face at me. I screamed and ran one way, and it screamed and ran the other way. I HATE mice (add to that bugs of any sort, snails, rodents, any pestlike thing)!!! We’re having an infestation right now; my husband’s managed to kill a lot of them, which means our house really stinks because they’ve died back behind the walls or in the attic. But there have been some living in my kitchen.
Anyway, after quivering on my bed for a while (with my dog quivering under the bed [not because she’s cared of mice, but she’s scared of loud noises, like my screaming]), I decided I couldn’t stay there one more minute. So I fled to the library until Mr. N.Sane got home.
As it happened, my dog caught that particular mouse and put it out of my misery.
I thought all was well. I fixed something fast for dinner. Later on I went back into the kitchen to wash my husband’s cake plate and put it in the dishwasher. As I was getting ready to put the soap into the dishwasher, a mouse ran across my foot.
I really screamed then. I told my husband I’m not setting foot into the kitchen until the mice are gone!
I have OCD, so at any point in time I have been afraid of any number of unusual things. These may not qualify as phobias I suppose, but they cause the same fearful reaction anyway.
I can do heights okay unless its those kind of heights where they strap a harness on you and say, “Walk accross this log 50 feet up in the air, don’t worry, the ropes will catch you if you fall!” Yeah, um, screw that.
I also go completely nuts if I get in a situation where I can’t move my arms or legs… like when I was a kid sleeping in a sleeping bag. My brother came and sat on the bag so I couldn’t move and I just freeeaked! Its just the feeling of being entangled and helpless to get out.
Also, bees. I am so jumpy about bees that ANYTHING flying next to my face (even if it turns out to be just a fly or gnat) immediately turns on the scream like a girl and run for the hill switch in my brain.
Oooh and someone else said moths. Man those things freak me out. I think its because they are so unpredictable and you never know when its going to charge right into your face. When one gets in house fear turns into anger and I charge around like a rhino trying to stomp it until it is dead, dead, dead.
There are only four people I can ring without problems: my grandma, my mother, my brother and my SO.