what's your irrational fear?

[lauren grier]

i'm terrified of trains.. riding on them. I've gotten use to being near them as i live directly beside a freight track but getting on them is pretty much the most horrifying thing on the planet to me. in march i went to a bruins game and had to ride the commuter rail for like 5 minutes and was pretty sure i was going to die it went underground and i wasn't prepared and the world ended in my mind the bf teases me relentlessly about my fears as he's a commuter rail regular & trains from boston to here several times a week.. but after that short train ride he saw that i was not in fact exaggerating my fears i'm pretty sure he thought i was going to die as much as i did. For ce's birthday we're training up to boston to go to the aquarium.. against my will.. (haa) so if you never hear from me again you know why.

So what's your irrational fear?

[taracotta7]

Knives. Anything bigger than a steak knife. For real. I don't have any reason not to like them.......no horrible thing happened to me. My imagination just gets the best of me and I am sure that me or someone near me will get hurt or killed by a knife. Craziness.

[kscwgirl]

Bridges. and spiders and snakes. (although really, those are all perfectly rational. )

[MamaBee]

bridges... I hate bridges... I am frozen with panic driving over them... and ever since those bridges clasped a few years ago in Minneapolis and people were trapped in their cars in the water... that was way too close to home and now it's even worse! I still can't believe that two summers ago, on vacation we went over the Mackinaw Bridge in Michigan... like 3 times... as long as we are in the middle lane, I'm okay-ish.

At home, to get to the other side of town, I need to take bridges to get across the Fox River and I have to put my big girl panties on to be able to do it... but the whole time I am muttering under my breathe and praying that I will make it across... thinking what would I do if I found myself trapped in the car, plunging into the icy water? Will I be able to get Jake unbuckled from his car seat? How many minutes do I have to get the door open before physics is against me? Will my big butt fit through the sun roof... which I'm pretty sure it won't... oy, now I won't be able to sleep tonight...

So, I guess, also being trapped in my car is another fear...

[KristinCB]

vomit...

it has gotten even worse for me now in the times of facebook :P I see people around me talking about their kids getting the stomach flu and I turn a bit nuts... please for the love of everything... just stop talking about when people are vomiting

[Andrea Gourley]

Volcanos There isn't even any volcanos in England and I'm still really scared of them and have nightmares about them. But ... I can't help myself watch all the volcano disaster movies and all the documentaries about them and I regularly check out the USGS website to see what is going on around the world .. you know ... just incase the lava reaches me

Jen Tapler is my hero - she lives ON a flippin volcanic island

[MamaBee]

Originally Posted by KristinCB

vomit...

it has gotten even worse for me now in the times of facebook :P I see people around me talking about their kids getting the stomach flu and I turn a bit nuts... please for the love of everything... just stop talking about when people are vomiting

My hubby is that way with blood... just for fun during a fight I'll say, "did you know that your blood flows through your vains?" Hee hee...safely to say, I win the argument.

[kristijoy]

My biggest fear is fire. Not sure if that's irrational or not, but I don't even feel comfortable burning candles in the house. I'm so glad they make those electric kind now!

[LenaGardner]

What *isn't* my irrational fear?

Knives. We have 1 paring knife in my house. That's it. And I'm not kidding.

Ceiling Fans. They are just death machines.

Parking Garages. They're dark and windey and I always feel like my car is too tall for them, even though that's impossible.

Falling Out Of The Car. Self Explanatory.

Railroad Crossings. Even getting close to them. I saw Final Destination, shut up.

Waking up one morning and being trapped in my house. I look out the windows and there's nothing but brick walls.

Shutting my eyes in the shower. When I open them, surely there will be a deranged murderer waiting for me.

Okay that's not all of them but that's enough of the freak show for today. I'm just an anxious person.

[taracotta7]

Oh La, thank you for starting this thread!!!!!!!! For one......glad to know I am not the only one with an active imagination. Two, I am not the only one scared of knives so it is no longer irrational.....it is totally legit. (thank you Lena!) And three.......funny. Just plain funny.

[jessica31876]

I have so many. Seriously. But most involve cars. I am a nervous wreck anytime we have to go somewhere with traffic involved. And seeing a car pulling out in front of us freaks me out as does someone getting to close behind us. Oh and being beside a semi truck with a semi in front of us. Scares me sooo much! And it was like that long before the accident this summer. I am terrified of driving a car myself. I can drive in the yard or like out to the mailbox but that is it. Snakes make me panic. Being alone in my house at night also scares me. It is so dark in our yard though and we have had more crime happening lately in and around where I live. My daughter driving alone at night after work. I am terrified she will break down on a dark road. Going to a bank after it closes (so many armed robberies at the ATM's)! Spiders freak me out but I can kill them. I cannot watch scary movies anymore because I will have nightmares.

[abm234]

I have this recurring irrational fear that somebody will kidnap my children out of their beds. We even got an alarm system! Terrifies the heck out of me!

[color of my heart]

i get scared taking a shower if nobody is home. i have this fear that the tub is gonna go crashing through the floor and that's how i'll die. it was worse last year when i was on the second floor. this year it's slightly easier being on the first floor. but yeah. irrational.

also, la, i love the train. the train in boston is fun. you never know what you'll see. it's the only public transportation i will take in the city. now, the buses are scary.

[MissKim]

Fish. Alive, dead, on a plate... they creep me out.

Wal-mart keeps the dog food right across from the aquariums full of live fish. I have to run in, get my dog food, and run out. Better yet, send a kid for it.

The smell of seafood makes me want to vomit. I can't comfortably be in a room with aquarium. And swimming in a lake this summer about had me undone. I ended up sitting on the "beach."

[ColleenSwerb]

I feel weird for not having any that I can think of......

[julifish]

I have a fear that someone is going to come in to our house when we aren't home and kill our cats leaving us a gruesome scene to come home to. Whenever we go on vacation I try to make someone else goes in the house first...just in case.

[lovely1m]

Reduced visability while driving, ie, fog, heavy snow, heavy rain. It just about sends me into a panic. I have a job where I have to go to work no matter what, so after having to drive through these conditions for work reasons for how many years, I have started to have irrational fears about it. I seriously start having panic attacks, but I have to do it. This is my biggest by far.

Driving/walking on a frozen lake. I am so terrified the ice will break and I will fall through. Luckily, since I am not an ice fisherman I dont have to do this often, but there's always the chance of driving off the interstate and hitting a frozen lake.

BTW, to those afraid of knives, so am I. It just doesn't hit irrational fear stage, just keep away from it fear kind.

[ryliesmom]

Drains - I will not touch the bathtub drain with unless I'm cleaning and then only the sponge touches it. I will not touch the drain in a pool either.

I also hate bridges, but I've gotten better about them. I'm usually ok unless they're the big old rusty kind. Those still creep me out.

[emmasmommy]

birds and styrofoam.

[carriesmom]

Being pushed over a railing and falling to my death. People following me to my house.

[nun69]

If we are somewhere high {like a bridge, a moutnain, hiking, cliffs, the ferry, etc...anywhere you have the potential to "fall"}, my biggest fear is one of my kids losing the grip of my hand and falling....I even have these thoughts if they aren't with me and I am driving over a high bridge

[eranslow]

Originally Posted by nun69

If we are somewhere high {like a bridge, a moutnain, hiking, cliffs, the ferry, etc...anywhere you have the potential to "fall"}, my biggest fear is one of my kids losing the grip of my hand and falling....I even have these thoughts if they aren't with me and I am driving over a high bridge

Yes - this! There's this pretty awesome new bridge here in Des Moines. This past summer we went for a walk on it....I was sooooo nervous that Blake was going to fall over the edge! It still gives me the shivers just thinking about it!

[misfitinmn]

I am like Lena and I have irrational fears about EVERYTHING.
Most notably, planes crashing, specifically on me/my house/my car (with me in)/my family. I know the likelihood is small - in my rational brain - but it still scares the tar out of me!
Also, like Angie, my kids falling. We visited Duluth (MN) when my first boy was about 15 months old, and we were watching a ship pass through the canal, and these parents had their kids sitting on the walls of the canal facing outward and I STILL cannot get the image out of my head (the made-up image as this didn't even HAPPEN) of them falling FAAAAR into the frigid water below. I'm not so much worried about MYSELF falling, just my kids for some reason.
I'm also pretty afraid of dying in any way that I will be consciously aware that I am dying painfully (fire, drowning, suffocating, etc).

And yes, I will admit to having an eensy fear of bridges as the collapse in MN was WAYYYYYYYY way too close to home. It's not ALL bridges. Just long ones, over deep freezing water, and especially if we have to stop on them. *shudder*

[Lauramarie]

I thought I was the only one afraid of bridges! I have no idea why but I avoid them. If I have to drive over one, there is only one major bridge over here, I scream the entire way.

I have many more and I was writing them out but uh the list is too long and my freakness will really show :}

[YepBrook]

My "irrational" fear is actually somewhat rational... it's based on a fear of drowning. Which is probably my worst fear. Movies like Poseidon put me into a complete state of FREAK. So, it got worse after I had my first child I started to worry about drowning trapped in my car.

I have this fear that I will lose control of the car, or someone will hit us, and we will go plunging into a nearby lake or canal. There are A LOT of canals and ponds, and "lakes" here in South Florida... beside practically every road. And it happens quite a bit, too. In the canal right by my house a car got sideswiped and just drove right into the canal. Someone saw the car go in and saved the guy. I have asthma and so my lung capacity isn't great, I can't hold my breath underwater for long. My fear is... how would I save my kids??? Buckled in their carseats? How would I save them both? Would I have to choose one!?!?

I've seen a car go into a canal off of I-95 here on a rainy night. Torrential tropical storm type rain. We had the kids in the car and it was the third accident we had driven by that night... we slowed down and pulled over. I saw the headlights in the canal. Other people stopped and ran to help but we chose to drive on for the safety of the kids (didn't want them sitting in the car on the shoulder of the highway while we run to try to save someone). It was a tough choice. I still think about it. I have no idea who was in the car or if they are alive today.

So, when I drive I try to take note of any bodies of water. I also keep my windows open in nice weather since that makes escaping the sinking car easier. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for worrying about it. But thanks, La, for starting this thread! I'm not the only one!

[Tracyfish]

The pull-down attic stairs. I can't get past the third step without freaking out. And pretty much ladders too.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by Tracyfish

The pull-down attic stairs. I can't get past the third step without freaking out. And pretty much ladders too.

YES! The pull down attic stairs! When I was a teenager I climbed into the attic at my parents house and the spring-loaded attic stairs lifted back up... to the point where it was impossible for me to get down. I was stuck in the attic for about 30 minutes until they noticed my yelling. Ugh. *shudder*

[Tracyfish]

That is why I don't want to go up there!!!!

[lovely1m]

Originally Posted by Tracyfish

And pretty much ladders too.

Ladders scare the crap out of me, too! I cannot go up them. I do have a fear of heights, but only crazy heights and a ladder doesn't get you up that high so I have no idea why they scare me so bad.

[marlathrall]

Okay, I thought I didn't have any, but then I realized that I have an irrational fear of getting my teeth knocked out. I've had nightmares (multiple times) that I had an accident and lost my teeth. I woke up freaking out thinking it was real.

Also, burning really freaks me out. I can't imagine having a really bad burn. It would be so painful.

[mrshobbes]

High speeds--like cars that go from 0 to 60kph in 2 seconds freak me out.

Irrationally--ever since that Psycho shower scene I now *always* take a shower with my back to the shower head. Every. Time.

After watching the original The Ring movie I was terrified of buckets of water and turned off television sets.

And black cats give me the heebie-jeebies. Yes, the whole when one crosses your path, bad luck, etc etc. Freaks me out every time I see one and I visibly relax if I see it has a spot of white or is not entirely black.

[Kjersti]

Super high overpasses. I'm afraid my car is going to fall over the edge. Not good....there are tons here in California. My palms start sweatting and I literally have to call my sister to talk me through them as I'm driving.

[joelsgirl]

Dying in childbirth. It's the main reason I didn't want a third child. Matt & Liz are responsible for this fear.

[Jengerbread88]

I'm terrified of helicopters and Fed Ex.

When I was young, my great uncle and I were out talking. My grandparents lived in the country (where we were), but you could see the search lights and stuff for clubs in the city. I saw one of them and said "That's so cool! I wonder what it leads to!" and around the same time, a helicopter flew over. He said "When I was in the war, helicopters would use lights like that to find people and kill them. The helicopters would fly and just gun people down... I knew someone who was killed by our own helicopter." To my young self, this meant that helicopters were deadly, and that sometimes, they even killed people who were on their side.

Logically, I know helicopters won't kill me.... but EVERY time one flies over, I panic.

ETA: Also, being in tall buildings. After watching a documentary on 9/11, and hearing the terror of the people, having to choose between jumping out of the building and being burned or crushed... I'm scared of being in a tall building.

[Angie4b1g]

I don't really have anything that I'm constantly afraid of. I don't love flying, but I will if I have to.

I do seem to have a bit of a paranoia about rapists. I've never been raped, but any rustling in the bushes or footsteps behind me, and I jump sky high. You can imagine what a joy I am to run with. My husband won't let me carry mace because he thinks I'll mace anyone that comes anywhere near me. lol

I also don't like camping because I am afraid of slashers. Not bears. Slashers. If I was a slasher, I'd go looking for people in tents, so it makes sense to me.

I'm not a big fan of the dog doing the OMG SCARY INTRUDER bark when I'm in the shower and home alone.

[Angie4b1g]

Originally Posted by nun69

If we are somewhere high {like a bridge, a moutnain, hiking, cliffs, the ferry, etc...anywhere you have the potential to "fall"}, my biggest fear is one of my kids losing the grip of my hand and falling....I even have these thoughts if they aren't with me and I am driving over a high bridge

Ugh yes this too. One year on vacation we went to a lighthouse that you could walk all the way up the stairs to the top. I stayed down with the baby, since he wouldn't have been able to make it.

I couldn't even look up there at my other kids because I just KNEW one of them was going to fall over the railing and plummet down and I damn sure wasn't going to watch it happen. I still get sick thinking about it and it was 5 years ago.

And there they were trying to wave to me. lol Bad mother.

[adrianka]

Heights. But I don't think that's irrational; it's a simple self-preservation mechanism. The LACK of fear is abnormal IMHO. :-)

And spiders. Most insects, actually. Even though I think that's some deeply ingrained defence mechanism, too. That said, I don't like to kill spiders. I bought a thingy for catching them and then I put them on the balcony. If they're small, I let them be. My previous place was near a forest and we got all sorts of spiders, so I kinda learned to accept them up to some size. With a big one I'd probably lose it though.

[scrapperjade]

Being swallowed by a whale. Yes, seriously. Watching pinocchio & reading about Jonah (in the Bible) has freaked me out. It's so bad that when I went to the Dominican I swam in the ocean for 5 minutes before I had to get out. I swam in the pool for the rest of the trip.

Actually, I am scared of everything in the ocean. Sharks (I can't see pictures / documentaries / and OMGosh - those new helium filled sharks that float around your house make me want to run & cry), octopus (seriously creepy), fish, coral (looks gross)... yep.

[color of my heart]

Originally Posted by Jengerbread88

I'm terrified of helicopters and Fed Ex.

fed ex?

helicopters.. oy. i don't love flying in planes. like, once we're in the air i'm mostly okay. but taking off and landing, i hold my breath. i'm afraid of crashing to the ground, or the landing gear not coming down. whenever i'm flying somewhere, as we're landing, i'm praying in my head "please let the landing gear work, please let the landing gear work."

and i totally agree about the pull down attic ladders and attics in general. my aunt and uncle have an attic in their house, with one of the ladders. they sent me up to get something from there, the ladder totally almost broke. if i ever have an attic in a house, there will be normal stairs leading to it. none of this pull down ladder things. oh, and the slotted floors, too. you know how some attics don't have full floors, just beams? yeah. no thanks. scares me so much.

oh, and jaedyn, whales eat krill. i don't think you're krill (: sharks on the other hand... *shiver*

[KristinCB]

Originally Posted by scrapperjade

Actually, I am scared of everything in the ocean. Sharks (I can't see pictures / documentaries / and OMGosh - those new helium filled sharks that float around your house make me want to run & cry), octopus (seriously creepy), fish, coral (looks gross)... yep.

Me too!! I LOVE the ocean! I think it is so beautiful and would love to live near it but.. totally scared of anything fish related.. I would probably have an anxiety attack if I attempted to go snorkelling or something.. also really afraid of hurricanes and natural weather disasters

I haven't been able to think of anything else irrational - I have tons of weird fears but not sure if they are really irrational..

I remember when both kids were born i was completely terrified that I was going to trip and drop them on the hospital floors..

[ovaltine]

Lena, I'm terrified of opening my eyes in the showers too! I totally close my eyes when showering and always knock things around And Sixth Sense didn't help at all, now I brush my teeth facing the sink, not looking at the mirror at all. I don't want to see scary faces staring back at me... even at some nights it's probably my own scary face

I was pretty sure I saw monsters under my bed when I was small, so now I have to sleep with my blanket no matter how hot the night is. As if the blanket will protect me from monsters........

[Jenn Barrette]

Let's see...

I hate closing my eyes in the shower, because someone is going to come in and murder me...and keeping my eyes open protects me.

I can't have my feet sticking out from under my blankets...because the monsters will get me.

I have a fear of dying around Christmas or my birthday. I can picture my family being reminded of my death each and every Christmas when they should be happy and celebrating. And I can picture the headlines if I die around my birthday "Jenn Barrette died _days short of her _birthday.

I also worry about how I would get my kids out of the car if we drove into a body of water. I have nightmares about my husband accidentally driving us off a cliff as well.

Probably more...but I don't want to think about it. LOL

[mummytothree]

I'm like the queen of paranoia...seriously everything gives me panic attacks but the most ridiculous one I can't even bring myself to post...it is so totally irrational it's not even funny!!! It's about me dying...not even how I die but *WHY* I am going to be the next on my family to die! It so far out there that I'm scared my family would commit me if they knew I thought about it!!!

[breakingbrie]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in my fears!! I've seen them all here already!

As a kid, I wanted to work with dolphins... until I realized I'm afraid of anything river/ocean related... fish, sharks, and yes... dolphins! - including the water itself. I do think ocean life and the ocean itself is beautiful, but I'm terrified of it. I loooove aquariums, but everytime I go in one, I have to note the exits in case the glass shatters and the water and manatees come rushing into the room. I try to figure out how to stay close enough to the exits so that I can get me and the kids out fast before the water and sea life get too close to us.

I've given up on a couple video games as well that caused me to hyperventilate(mario 64 - the water spiders are too freaky, and one of the spyro games... swimming under water, and they didn't have a fence to show how far out you could swim under water, and even though I was controlling a character, I felt like I would get lost or sucked out and not be able to get back)

I've always been terrified of bridges and esp bridges over water(even the Cedar Point causeway freaks me out!!) but now that I've got kids I'm even more terrified. I'm terrified of being trapped in the car, esp in water. I hyperventilate trying to figure out how to save me and 2 kids.

Of course I'm scared of spiders like crazy! They make me cry. On a bet I watched Arachniphobia with my bro when I was little, and by the end of the movie I was standing in the middle of the room with nothing touching me and all the lights on! For months I checked all around the toilet before I sat down to pee and refused to take showers.

When I was a kid I always thought every person in the world would disappear while I was in the shower and I'd get out and be alone forever.

We get little tiny daddy long legs spiders in our shower now and then, and I'm too scared to get close enough to kill them(mostly when I have to kill one, I spray it from far away with some kind of strong cleaner... lol to slow it down first!) so I wash them down the drain then pour cleaner down and let the water run for a looooong time... I'm still scared one day all the spiders I've washed down are all going to come back up the drain when I'm showering.

[scrapmonkey]

Add me to the list of people afraid of bridges - mine is part due to fear of heights in general and part due to recurring nightmares when I was a kid of going over this bridge we went over at least once a week to go to dance lessons or my grandparents' place and swerving off the bridge into the Connecticut River below and drowning.
I am also afraid of going down escalators (going up is not an issue).
But the most irrational fear I have is of grape jelly.




Yes - you read that right. When I was kid I remember watching The Blob on TV while eating a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich and having a blob of jelly drop onto my napkin. It looked exactly like the blob in the movie, so I think every time I now see grape jelly I subconsciuosly think of the Blob eating up things in its path. I cannot eat or touch grape jelly to this day....

[nesser1981]

Originally Posted by emmasmommy

birds and styrofoam.

I'm afraid of Birds too!!! I get made fun of like crazy for it.

[glumirk]

The Mailman. He knows where I am every day at 10:30. Creepy. I always try to hide when I hear him driving up the street, but DS runs to the window to knock and wave hello. The mailman is actually a very nice guy, but I still freak out and run and hide.

[kscwgirl]

oh gosh. i'm terrified of birds. Like.. the rainforest parts int he zoo? Ic an't do it. b/c the peacocks follow me.

[NatalieKW]

Originally Posted by Jenn Barrette

Let's see...

I can't have my feet sticking out from under my blankets...because the monsters will get me.

That's so funny! Mine is that I can't sleep with any part of my foot hanging off the mattress. Something might get it! I think about it every single night. I only recently told my husband too because it scares me to talk about it!

[desertmomnm]

Finding a snake in the toilet. I always look. I would freak out if it ever happened.