I’ve finally figured out that I don’t have a fear of heights; I have a fear of falling. So if I’m 20 stories up in the air but inside a building, I’m cool. But even the kiddie roller coasters freak me right the fuck out, and 1st-person POV video of a regular (big-people) roller coaster ride, that first big free-fall? ACK!!!
Plus, roaches, and the thought of losing my spouse, but those are probably too common to merit mention.
I feel for you; I get it. I had a flight just like yours back in January of this year, which has made me worse than I was, but my phobia cropped up out of nowhere years ago. I hope your issue passes as quickly as it came on!
Heights.
Weird one - playing team sports. I am not un-athletic, but I prefer solo sports, running, triathlon…I am not great at team sports and they make me nervous.
Small group interactions, and many 1-on-1 situations.
Speaking in front of a large group of people? Facilitating a large-group discussion? I do both of these for my job all the time, and I do them very well. It’s the more intimate stuff that really gives me the bubbles.
Anything having to do with vomit.
First date
Job interview
Public speaking
Meeting new people
Being a passenger in a car. Trains, buses, planes, just fine, but cars-noooooooooooo!!
you take that back!
Me too. I try to make a test drive before I have to go somewhere new. If I don’t get a chance to do that it’s a nervous drive.
Elevators. I take the stairs or the escalator whenever possible because getting into an elevator makes my heart race. I’ll walk halfway across a store to avoid the elevator.
The lead up to anything. No matter what it is or how well you’re prepared, the lead up to and the waiting for the thing is murder. Test, trial, fight, race, or whatever obstacle you’ve put in front of yourself, it’s the moments leading up to it that are unbearable. Once the firing pistol starts, once the bell rings, once you stand up to begin, whatever training you’ve had kicks in and the butterflies disappear, but God spare me from the moments before.
Part of my job involves speaking to audiences of up to 200 as I host web-conferences, and I’ve had multiple people - including my boss! - say they could never do that, and that they can’t understand why that doesn’t make me nervous. Little do they know that other, less frequent, parts of my job fill me with the same sort of horror public speaking does them: having to get a parking pass in one of the university parking lots when I occasionally have to go to campus, having to attend quarterly all-staff meetings, needing to figure out what to bring for monthly potlucks, needing to drive to a meeting location I’ve never been to before… I’m not as unflappable as they think, it’s just that the things that make me anxious are weirder than theirs.
Oh, and I second bridges. Certain bridges, like one recently shut down in Portsmouth NH*, scare me almost to the point of tears.
*You can’t tell from the picture but the bridge itself was one of those with the driving surface made of a metal grid and you had to fight to keep from drifting towards the center/oncoming traffic as you drove over it. I hate that kind of bridge even more than the Tobin in Boston!
Talking or playing music while being recorded.
My mom used to make me record cassette tape messages in German to my grandparents and also play the piano on tape. Gah! I still feel sick thinking of it. A lot of the messages were spoken thank you notes for birthday gifts, etc. So I also struggle to write thank you notes to this day. (heaven forbid it’s a note in German!)
I nearly bought a round once, scared the shit out of me , I can tell you !
Same here! I once had my water pump go out while driving on the interstate; for the longest time, any little noise or smell would scare me so much that sometimes I would start shaking. To add to the problem, I’m very fond of this particular vehicle…I would convince myself that what I was hearing or smelling was the start of some catastrophic problem. (For some reason, the route I drive is full of cars that are about to fall apart…I’m always finding myself behind someone who is burning something other than gas or diesel.)
I also have trouble watching competitive shows on TV…they make me feel extremely nervous. Even something like “Chopped” will make me a bit twitchy.