Loss of hearing. I love music and reading, and while if I lose my eyesight there are always audiobooks, there is no such substitute for music if I lose my hearing.
There’s one thing that absolutely freaks me out. Because of that I’m never going to ever tell a soul anywhere what it is.
I’m with you. If I can’t do anything but lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, what’s the point of going on?
Also, I fear progressive illnesses like Parkinsons, Huntingtons, and ALZ.
Other. Outliving the money I’ve saved for retirement, including the possibility of an economic collapse or confiscatory taxes.
Hell and snakes.
If we are talking about phobias, then mine is moths. I wish I could explain it. At least with snakes and spiders there’s a slight chance they might hurt you.
But yeah, I’m terrified of moths. I have to rationally calm myself down and try not to freak out when they are around. My hands get sweaty. My heart starts racing. It’s a visceral, automatic reaction. And I just have to keep talking to myself in my head saying it’s ok etc.
Misuse of apostrophes. Just kidding, it would be heights and growing old alone.
It used to be the death of my mom but that happened and somehow I’m still alive. 
OK, yeah, also centipedes. Totally irrational but I lose my shit around them.
Heights - have got really bad the last 10 years or so. Can’t even stand to watch other people fooling around on heights.
Spiders - just spiders. Other bugs, moths, insects, ants, mantises, flies, bees, wasps - don’t care. And my fear is based purely on size. Example - Redbacks (black widows to you Usanians) - pfft. ‘Don’t worry, dear, I’ll get that’.
Big, hairy, (totally harmless), crawling huntsmen - there’s me running screaming out the door (did I mention I know they are totally harmless?)
Yeah. I honestly don’t know how some people deal with these debilitating illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis or severe back pain. I have some chronic pain but not on that level.
I have a mold phobia. It’s weird. I can’t clean out the fridge; and if for some reason I have to, I’ve been known to throw away whole containers just because I don’t want to open them and see anything moldy. It’s not just squeamishness, it’s an actual phobia. My former boss once made a joke about his cheese being moldy and kind of pushed it in my direction, and I shoved away from the table so violently I almost fell out of my chair. One of the most horrifying stories I ever read was *The Cask of Amontillado
- because the walls were lousy with the stuff.
There is one thing I fear more than torture, and that’s dying to find out there is some Higher Purpose and that I fucked it up. I fear that I’m doing life wrong, and will be eternally punished for it.
my first real job, in engineering. barely old enough to drink. dated engrg secy, close to proposing. then we both got laid off the same day, by a crooked engrg mgr who laid off key staff, after assuring the GM he could run the dept. in fact, he was interviewing with a competitor, and left them high and dry 4 weeks later (thats also how we happened to hire him). I panic’d and ran away from the girl (very shallow). fast forward 20 yrs, very similar situation, only this time married for first time. had to testify against my own employer in a racketeering case. fired again, and down went marriage. So ever since, I have had this fear of being fired thru no fault of my own. I panic when I see closed door mtgs, or get called into one. Hence, i work out of my home, on the road, by choice. declined promotions that put me in the office (shark tank). Can’t make long term commitment to women, Saving tons of money - only pay cash for cars, etc…no credit cards - only debit…ready to pack up and go and survive for years if needed. silly, huh? whats weird is I finally have the best job ever, best boss, more income than ever, and the company thinks the world of me. Ditto for some nice women. I just can not get that nightmare out of my mind. refuse to trust any employer or person, or let a woman trust me. At both jobs that I was fired from, I had just been offered a counter offer not to leave and a raise, just prior to being let go. Now, I look at job openings every week. Maybe it would be different if I had deserved to be fired.
Undeserved firing, my top fear. which trickles down to #2, not being able to support a wife, or counting on a wife to be there for better or worse. I will be the guy you read about - the seemingly not wealthy never home loner, who dies of a broken heart, with hundreds of thousands in the bank and no debt, and a nice 401K…that will all go to the state.
I never really thought about it until I saw them on the list, but intimacy and commitment are big ones. I invariably pull away when people start getting too close, and I have a terrible fear of getting into something that I feel like I can’t back out of. Maybe I need a shrink.
I think my biggest fear is accidentally killing or maiming someone else, though. Such as, for example, hitting a child with my car. I don’t know if I could live with myself afterward.
Death of a loved one.
Losing a parent is hard enough, but losing a spouse or child would be horrendous. Nothing else really compares.
Agree with you on killing a child with a car. I think if I did that I would just continue on to the next bridge and go off it.
(There’d probably be a child under it.)
I’m surprised people actually* see themselves* as afraid of commitment. Intimacy I get, but in all the cases I have seen where someone complains about someone’s else’s “fear of commitment” it always comes down to, “um… it aint him, sister. It’s you.”
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Death of a loved one
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Spiders. My arachnophobia has embarrassed and aggravated me (because it’s silly) all my life.
Death of a loved one I guess, but by that I really mean death of one of my kids. I could handle anyone else’s death regardless of how meaningless or catastrophic; I’d eventually get through it. The death of one of my kids would turn me into a basket case.