What is an irrational fear that you have?

[jewelz617]

I must confess, I am afraid of cats. They have always freaked me out. It''s a totally irrational fear because I know cats can''t hurt me! My friends all have cats and just don''t get it.

I''m also afraid of zombies (even though they aren''t real) and have bad dreams about them all the time.

So does anyone else have an irrational fear of something?

 

[Maisie]

I used to be scared of cats. Then San Diego Lady posted here about a little Bengal boy that she was looking after and I just fell in love! I got our Bengal Gracie not long after that thread and I adore her.

I am terrified of losing my mind. I know its to do with having depression but its the biggest fear I have. I worry that I will go mad and do something terrible.

 

[Steel]

PA978 this is not directed at you but you just reminded me of a conversation I was forced to have this week. I have 4 cats and hate to hear that folks hate cats. I am so sick of people saying ''I hate cats'' in response to hearing I have some. It really bugs me. I think that if you have a phobia then that is one thing but to ''hate'' a whole species ''just because'' sends me off. And why say it at all? Clearly I am not going to agree if I have 4 of the beggars. I just don''t know...

Anyhoo. I used to be really afraid of spiders* and mice etc but since living out in the sticks I can pick birds, mice and all sorts of creepy crawlies up with my bear hands! I have really surprised myself.

*When DH and I were first married we lived in a house where the spiders seemed to crawl out of the walls at dusk. If he was out I would freak out and after many months I was finally able to trap them under boxes or glasses etc. So DH would come home to find 5-6 objects on the floor and would have to remove the offending spiders.

 

[jewelz617]

.

 

[jewelz617]

Date: 1/16/2010 10:20:29 AM
Author: Steel
PA978 this is not directed at you but you just reminded me of a conversation I was forced to have this week. I have 4 cats and hate to hear that folks hate cats. I am so sick of people saying ''I hate cats'' in response to hearing I have some. It really bugs me. I think that if you have a phobia then that is one thing but to ''hate'' a whole species ''just because'' sends me off. And why say it at all? Clearly I am not going to agree if I have 4 of the beggars. I just don''t know...

Anyhoo. I used to be really afraid of spiders* and mice etc but since living out in the sticks I can pick birds, mice and all sorts of creepy crawlies up with my bear hands! I have really surprised myself.


*When DH and I were first married we lived in a house where the spiders seemed to crawl out of the walls at dusk. If he was out I would freak out and after many months I was finally able to trap them under boxes or glasses etc. So DH would come home to find 5-6 objects on the floor and would have to remove the offending spiders.

Aw. No, I don''t hate cats or anything. I like seeing them in books and movies, they are beautiful and graceful. But in real life I get panicky around them. It''s so weird.

I still have my husband catch and release spiders for me. They are freaky and they bite!!

 

[Circe]

Waterbugs. Black widow spiders don''t freak me out, with their biting and their poison and all, but the harmless waterbug gives me the SCREAMING MIMIS. I loathe those things.

 

[jewelz617]

Date: 1/16/2010 10:41:15 AM
Author: Circe
Waterbugs. Black widow spiders don''t freak me out, with their biting and their poison and all, but the harmless waterbug gives me the SCREAMING MIMIS. I loathe those things.

Google "dobsonfly." These were everywhere when I lived down south and they are the scariest bug I have ever seen.

 

[joflier]

My #1 biggest fear is spiders. I''d rather stab a toothpick into my eye than deal with a spider.

My other weird fear is talking on the phone. I''ve always been a bit phonephobic, even as a kid and teen. I''m ok with calling up my mom and about 2 or 3 very close friends. And that''s IT. If I have to call someone, I get a lot of anxiety about it. Or else if someone calls me, I can talk for a couple of minutes, but all I can think of is a really good excuse of something happening that I have to get off the phone ASAP.

 

[miraclesrule]

all of my fears are completely rational.

 

[blingbunny10]

I''m afraid of bugs -- especially the kind that can fly!

These critters gave me hell for the first 2 months after I moved to a woodsy area: Stinkbugs!

They stopped finding their way into my home after a neighbor''s kid came over and killed FIFTY

in one go and temperatures dropped.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 1/16/2010 9:32:02 AM
Author:PinkAsscher678
I''m also afraid of zombies (even though they aren''t real) and have bad dreams about them all the time.

Crap, me too. Since I have been pregnant I have replayed the movie I Am Legend over in my mind about 50 times during sleep - I dream about it in startling detail. The worst part is that once I wake up I want to watch the stupid movie, which I know will just make it worse! Gah!

 

[charbie]

RODENTS!

oh my gosh, i have such a fear of them. they freak me out to no end. mice, rats, chipmunks, moles, anything small like that just creeps me out. i hyperventilate, cry, scream...its awful. i''m getting anxious just thinking about it here.

i even hate looking at them if they are dead.

 

[KimberlyH]

Bees terrify me.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

Elevators. I almost always take the stairs. The only way I'll take and elevator is if I've "known" it for a long time and trust it

or if a bunch of other people get in it (as in they trust it).

And ants! They travel in swarms and there's never just one

 

[April20]

I refuse to walk on grates in sidewalks. I''m afraid they''ll collapse and I''ll end up in some kind of nasty water. I always walk around them.

 

[jewelz617]

I''m glad there is someone else who fears zombies here! My brothers brought me to a haunted house one year and there were zombie actors walking around the complex jumping out of bushes and such. Worst idea ever!

 

[Shoopy]

I think my irrational fears have changed now that I'm a mom. I have a fear of the house getting on fire and because she's on the other side of the house I won't be able to get to her. Another is the fear that my car will go into a canal and I have to figure out how to get myself and DD out. That scares me so much that I haven't been to Key West yet since her birth (one lane in, one out, surrounded by water.)

And on a lighter note, I'm totally afraid of zombies too!! I joke with FI that we need an emergency food stash so that when the zombies take over we can trap ourselves inside the house

ETA: I'm afraid of ants too! But we have a mutual agreement. I recognize that by living in FL, they're going to be everywhere. And they know not to get offended when I take immediate action to kill them onsight.

 

[Upgradable]

Date: 1/16/2010 10:48:56 AM
Author: miraclesrule
all of my fears are completely rational.

I''ve been wracking my brain on this, and decided my only fears are rational. I fear for my kids, things like car accidents, abductions, people taking advantage of them......

Ooooo, now my tummy is feeling upset.

 

[trillionaire]

If I am using a public restroom and the last stall available is the handi-capable stall, I am TERRIFIED that I will be using it, and someone who NEEDS it will be waiting on me. I just imagine being ashamed and embarrassed.

Weird, huh?

 

[MissMina]

I am afraid of spiders. When I was little I ran into the cornfield behind our house and when I looked around there were big black and yellow garden spiders on every corn stock.
I ran as fast as I could back to our yard but the trauma remains.

I also hate hearing the phone ring and having to talk or having to make calls.
It feels like an invasion of my castle.

And OT Brief Threadjack
Why is it OK to say you hate/don''t care for/don''t want
to own cats but not dogs?
People keep asking me why I don''t have a dog and
when I say I don''t want one they say "you hate dogs?"
I don''t hate any animals. I just prefer cats as pets.

 

[Maisie]

Date: 1/16/2010 1:33:28 PM
Author: Upgradable

Date: 1/16/2010 10:48:56 AM
Author: miraclesrule
all of my fears are completely rational.

I''ve been wracking my brain on this, and decided my only fears are rational. I fear for my kids, things like car accidents, abductions, people taking advantage of them......

Ooooo, now my tummy is feeling upset.

Awww don''t be upset. ((((hugs))))

 

[packrat]

Um, that I''ll look in the dictionary and find a cheesy picture of myself listed under "irrational fear"? Seriously-I''m a mess I think.

Bugs. Spiders, wasps, hornets and the like. I''ve gotten a *little* better since living in town, there''s not as many as out in the country. So..I don''t scream bloody murder and haul ass across the yard. I guess that''s better, right? I''m convinced every spider I see is a brown recluse.

Drowning. I LOVE water. Love to swim, the sound of water, the color, everything. But I never swim by myself. I worry about the truck skidding off a bridge or something into a river or lake, and not being able to get everybody out and to safety. I want one of those things that you put against the window to bust it out and I want one of those things that cuts the seatbelt.

Sharks. I live in Iowa. Not so much shark country here. I''m fascinated by them, and watch everything on tv, even those God awful cheesetastic movies. But still, I worry about ending up in the water with a Great White and what it would feel like to have that mouth open up and be eaten alive.

Zombies. Yes, I too am scared of zombies. I LOVE zombie movies. Love. Am also incredibly scared by them. I Am Legend and 28 Days/Weeks later, and that other newer Day of the Deadish one..Dawn of the Dead or something. I can never remember. (the one where they''re in the mall)

Being stabbed or tortured, serial killers, someone breaking into the house at night, someone taking or hurting my kids, fire in the house and I can''t get my kids out.

Sometimes I think I''m going to end up one of those crazed militia type people, living out in the woods, off the land..in an underground bunker stocked w/weapons and able to wait out the Zombie Revolution or a war.

Vomiting. The juices from raw meats. It makes me gag seeing it, and I know I drive JD and my dad bonkers shrieking about meat germs but..

I worry about my mental stability. I used to have panic attacks and it felt like I was going crazy. I read Fear by L. Ron Hubbard, and that sent me into all sorts of a tizzy, calling my mom to ask her if that would ever happen to me, panic attacks at night.

MISSI = MESS

 

[jewelz617]

Date: 1/16/2010 1:59:24 PM
Author: MissMina
I am afraid of spiders. When I was little I ran into the cornfield behind our house and when I looked around there were big black and yellow garden spiders on every corn stock.

I ran as fast as I could back to our yard but the trauma remains.


I also hate hearing the phone ring and having to talk or having to make calls.

It feels like an invasion of my castle.


And OT Brief Threadjack

Why is it OK to say you hate/don''t care for/don''t want

to own cats but not dogs?

People keep asking me why I don''t have a dog and

when I say I don''t want one they say ''you hate dogs?''

I don''t hate any animals. I just prefer cats as pets.

I didn''t realize it wasn''t ok. I don''t want a dog either. I have no interest in an animal with fur. Not because I hate them, they just don''t appeal to me. I''m a fish/reptile enthusiast.

 

[whitby_2773]

i HATE rats. dirty dirty dirty!

mice. not necessarily dirty - but they scuttle. ew!

but the one i've struggled with for aaaages...

flying. i was on a plane (focker, not a jet) that got caught in an electrical storm and we had a forced landing after the pilot struggled to maintain control of the aircraft. it was swinging from side to side, people were screaming and throwing up, the stewardesses were yelling at people down the aisles from where they were strapped into their seats, and we had to do that 'crash position' landing thing.

since then, i've struggled with bumps. i've done a fear of flying course, which helped a lot, but it's never going to be a real joy for me.

so for me - flying.

worst case scenario - a bumpy flight where we found rats on the plane! WHOA!

(ETA on the bad flight i had, we didnt make the runway and landed in a paddock. not good.)

 

[MissMina]

Ooooo I have had snakes and turtles in the past and i have always wanted an Iguana.

 

[packrat]

Whitby, I remember you talking about that happening on the plane, and it still makes my hands sweat, thinking about it.

I''ll add falling to my ginormous list. In an airplane, out of a roller coaster, off a tall building, doesn''t matter.

 

[MissMina]

I didn''t mention flying because I don''t think of it as an irrational fear. The first time I flew the plane went all the way to the end of the runway before it stopped.
The next time I was looking out the window before takeoff and saw something dripping on the ground. I told the flight attendant and it turned out to be hydraulic fluid.
I could go on.......

 

[jewelz617]

I have an iguana! He''s a hoot

 

[jewelerman]

I have a thing about getting certain chemicals or substances on my hands when im weariing jewelry... being around bleach,rust,ink or gasoline will make me uncomfortable and i wont come in contact with them while wearing jewelry.The other thing is i hate driving in snow or rain storms.

 

[tyty333]

Having 18-wheelers passing me (or vice-versa). I get all paniky and I''m afriad I''ll just lose control of the car. I''ve never been in an
accident with one so I dont know why they are so upsetting. I also hate driving next to large dropoffs like on the side of a mountain.