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Thread: What are you afraid of?

  1. #1
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    What are you afraid of?

    What do you have fear about, rational and/or irrational? What scares you? I mean at the visceral level, not “society goi g to hell in an handbasket” fears unless of course you have those fears that would be measured in your metabolism.

    I ask because Teacher Terry has fear about crime that I do not have. By this I mean I do not “feel “ fearful in most all situations in my city and neighborhood.

    I am not saying she is wrong and I am right, probably the opposite is true. When I used to walk a mile at night all of my friends said “aren’t you scared? “ No, I was not scared although one neighborhood I walked through was more iffy than mine and one in the other side.

    But I do have fears.

    1. Riding in mechanical things…cars, airplanes…don’t trust them if I am not driving. This is dumb because objectively I recognize that DH is a better driver than I am.

    2. claustrophobic ideas such as coffin, narrow caves, cave diving….I have not had an MRI and do not know how that would go.

    3. No longer much fear, but having no money was concerning to me to a point of light fear. To me, that represents no options. Being poor and stuck…scary.

    These are the ones off the top of my head. Likely there are others.

    Waht about you?

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    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Falling off the side of a mountain. When I was a teenager I asked my uncle to take us to the top of the grain elevator where he worked. I walked right up to the edge and looked down. It was totally awesome. My mother, on the other hand stood pressed against the wall of the little outbuilding near the center of the roof that protected the elevator lift equipment.

    Fast forward to now. Any hiking trail that has a sharp drop off next to it, even if the trail is amply wide for me to safely walk along, terrifies me. I suspect that if I were to go on top of a grain elevator now I would react much more like my mother did.

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    Senior Member herbgeek's Avatar
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    Rodents. Even the cute furry kind aka squirrels. Mice, voles, all of them.

    Dying in a horrible, painful way.

    Walking or even driving in a sketchy neighborhood- fear for personal safety as I am small and do not carry a gun but a lot of bad guys do.

    When I was younger, I'd add having my car strand me on some lonesome street. Had happened multiple times before I had a credit card, and this is way before cell phones, where I'd have to either chance it to walk and find a pay phone or stick in my car and hope the good samaritan that stopped wasn't a creep or a rapist.

  4. #4
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    Falling off the side of a mountain. When I was a teenager I asked my uncle to take us to the top of the grain elevator where he worked. I walked right up to the edge and looked down. It was totally awesome. My mother, on the other hand stood pressed against the wall of the little outbuilding near the center of the roof that protected the elevator lift equipment.

    Fast forward to now. Any hiking trail that has a sharp drop off next to it, even if the trail is amply wide for me to safely walk along, terrifies me. I suspect that if I were to go on top of a grain elevator now I would react much more like my mother did.
    oh yes! Riding in an automobile on mountain roads with terrain dropping away to hundreds of feet below….scary!

    Negotiating heights in manmade conveyances are frightening.I just don’t trust ‘em. See also elevators.

    The Sunshine Skyway bridge in Florida scared me when I was a kid. On a trip there in recent years I drove a rental car and asked for the route that avoided that thing (and got hopelessly lost.) . On the way back to the airport I took their recommended route which crossed that bridge and I lived to tell about it.

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    I am petrified of driving on interstates with semis. If I get boxed in by two, I will have a panic attack. I am also fearful of flying. I think both of these things have more to do with claustrophobia than anything else. The other night, I had one of those dreams that was so real it continues to haunt me. I dreamed I was driving home from a meeting at night; I was not paying attention and took the wrong road where a roadblock had been removed. It was too late before I realized I was driving over a steep cliff. I felt the wheels go over and felt the car begin to roll. It was odd but I felt a strange peace when I accepted my demise and then I woke up. I have heard of several drivers who have gone over the steep roadsides outside of Telluride so I guess I got to experience it in my dreams.

  6. #6
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pinkytoe View Post
    I am petrified of driving on interstates with semis. If I get boxed in by two, I will have a panic attack. I am also fearful of flying. I think both of these things have more to do with claustrophobia than anything else. The other night, I had one of those dreams that was so real it continues to haunt me. I dreamed I was driving home from a meeting at night; I was not paying attention and took the wrong road where a roadblock had been removed. It was too late before I realized I was driving over a steep cliff. I felt the wheels go over and felt the car begin to roll. It was odd but I felt a strange peace when I accepted my demise and then I woke up. I have heard of several drivers who have gone over the steep roadsides outside of Telluride so I guess I got to experience it in my dreams.
    Pinky, I have not driven my small cute red convertible on any interstate for this very fear, being surrounded by semi trucks. Not doin’ it, nope.

  7. #7
    Senior Member gimmethesimplelife's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    What do you have fear about, rational and/or irrational? What scares you? I mean at the visceral level, not “society goi g to hell in an handbasket” fears unless of course you have those fears that would be measured in your metabolism.

    I ask because Teacher Terry has fear about crime that I do not have. By this I mean I do not “feel “ fearful in most all situations in my city and neighborhood.

    I am not saying she is wrong and I am right, probably the opposite is true. When I used to walk a mile at night all of my friends said “aren’t you scared? “ No, I was not scared although one neighborhood I walked through was more iffy than mine and one in the other side.

    But I do have fears.

    1. Riding in mechanical things…cars, airplanes…don’t trust them if I am not driving. This is dumb because objectively I recognize that DH is a better driver than I am.

    2. claustrophobic ideas such as coffin, narrow caves, cave diving….I have not had an MRI and do not know how that would go.

    3. No longer much fear, but having no money was concerning to me to a point of light fear. To me, that represents no options. Being poor and stuck…scary.

    These are the ones off the top of my head. Likely there are others.

    Waht about you?
    Interesting, IL....the three fears you mentioned? I share all three with you and I am also literally terrified of heights. I can remember once in my college days I had a roommate who worked at the Skydome at NAU and there was a suspended walkway far far far above the floor level (the Skydome is a arena for NAU sports). I had to talk to my roommate and I was passing by the Skydome and he asked me if I wanted to walk above everything and I even tried to do so and my legs literally froze when I looked down along with instant adrenaline flooding me. Rob

    Came back to add - since 9/11 I've had a fear of skyscrapers - luckily I rarely have to enter one - the last time was when my mother had neck surgery 9 1/2 years ago and her surgeon's office for follow up visits was on the 25th floor of a bank building mid-town downtown. I am so glad that I had one valium left from when I was legally prescribed such years ago - it helped a great deal but I still had an adrenaline response but was able to sit quietly and not look out any plate glass windows. Mom wanted pictures of Phoenix from this height and I was like - no, no, no, not doing this, Mom. I don't even like walking around outside of tall buildings. Rob

  8. #8
    Yppej
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    Heights if there is open space beneath me like those fire towers where the metal stairs have slats in them you can see through. If the steps beneath me are solid I am fine.

    Financial ruin. Big medical bills. Having someone call an ambulance for me and I am stuck with the bill. I have told coworkers in the past if I pass out at work just throw cold water on me to get me to come to if I faint.

    Passing out from wearing a mask and someone calls an ambulance and I have thousands of dollars in medical bills.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife View Post
    I had to talk to my roommate and I was passing by the Skydome and he asked me if I wanted to walk above everything and I even tried to do so and my legs literally froze when I looked down along with instant adrenaline flooding me. Rob

  10. #10
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    George, i have known dogs who have fear of thresholds. Is that the about their depth perception I wonder? My current bulldog (a bundle of phobias) shows occasional threshhold fear.

    Last week he would not step over a dried piece of grass on the floor. WTF! Is this an innate fear of snakes, is that baked into our brains?

    We call his inability to move beyond a certain something him “getting stuck. “. Yesterday he “got stuck” behind an 8” fence. He jumped into the fenced area to bark at the neighbor dog, but was unable to gather enough courage to get out of the fenced area.

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