Week 9 ish: What is Your Irrational Fear?

I'm afraid of embarassing myself. I have a tendency to go over things I've said and done many times to make sure I haven't done anything embarassing. I also have a tendency to be really private about my thoughts and feelings so that I don't reveal anything that could be used against me.

I'm also afraid of my house being broken into. I know there is a chance that it could happen, but I often have dreams about it.

Originally Posted by Pombina

Oh my god!!! me too!!! Sometimes at night I've been in the bathroom and go to the bedroom to get my moisturiser and its on the bed somewhere but the beds all messed up and it means Im gonna have to move the covers to find it, so I have to get Mark because I can't touch the sheets... it gets me so stressed out and panicky.

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I know exactly how you feel!! At least we know we're not the only ones!

I've always been scared of my car going into a body of water and me not being able to get out of it. Until two years ago, I always had cars with manual windows, just so that I could be sure of getting the window down in the event of an emergency.

I don't worry so much about it now that I live in Colorado Springs. The creek closest to me is very shallow and there's really not a lake or pond anywhere that would be easy to drive into.

Oh, I forgot one! I also have a huge fear of anything of any wet unknown substance on me, even if it's water lol. For instance if I'm doing the dishes and accidently stick my hand in someones applesauce but don't realize what it is, I freak out

I forgot about this one, because people don't wear them anymore, at least not here, but I am absolutely terrified of people wearing ski masks!

I know exactly where I developed this fear. When I was in college in Wisconsin, several incidents happened:

*Walking with one of my roommates one night, we were chased by a guy wearing a ski mask. That's all he was wearing...just the mask!

*Walking with the same roommate at night another time, when it was quite warm, we had to run from another guy in a ski mask!

*Walking with that same roommate, again at night, chased by another guy in a ski mask!

*Walking with a different friend at night, again the weather didn't warrant it, but, unbelievably, we were chased by, you guessed it, a guy in a ski mask!

This is the same reason I absolutely refuse to walk alone at night. In the few instances where I've been forced to, I'm hyper aware of my surroundings. I come home from work quite late at night, and when I park in my garage, I have to walk several feet to the stairs & up two flights to my door. Before I leave the garage, I check out the garage window first, then open the door and stand there for a few seconds looking and listening. Then I lock the door & practically sprint up to my place. If there's any noise, I break into a run. One night, I nearly had a heart attack when I heard the bushes rustling! I ran up the stairs, and just before I got in, I looked over my shoulder, and I saw a nasty possum climbing the garage ivy! It took quite awhile for me to calm down...I thought for sure there was a person there!

Getting back to the ski masks, one time, at college, I was walking in the hall of one of the buildings, rounded a corner, and came face-to-face with a man in a ski mask....I screamed loud and long! It turned out to be one of my professors coming in to teach class! I think I scared him more than he scared me, if that's possible!

Originally Posted by Pombina

Then I'd close the hall door and go to my bedroom. I had an En Suite at my mums so if I went to wash my face before going to bed, I'd litterally have turned the tap on and think there was somebody behind me so Id get my knife, turn around slowly and walk to my bedroom door, then open it and look down the hall to make sure the door was shut.
In the end I gave up trying to wash my face or do anything for that matter, I just used to sit on my bed in the dark with the TV on almost silent until they came home.

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That's exactly how I am... I won't do things after 11:00 pm such as take a shower, run the vacuum, have the volume up loud on the tv etc. Basically I won't do anything that might prevent me from hearing someone come inside. When my fiance was out of town I slept on the bed facing the bedroom door constantly. I wouldn't roll over to face the other way at all. I had my mace on the night stand along with a hammer (don't ask ).
I might need counseling

If I am home alone at ngiht, I do all of the above, plus keep the bedroom window cracked so I can hear anyone outside. My bedroom is on the second floor.

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

If I am home alone at ngiht, I do all of the above, plus keep the bedroom window cracked so I can hear anyone outside. My bedroom is on the second floor.

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Not me, when we lived in our apartment on the 3rd floor I was convinced someone would use a ladder to break in. That or come through my attic

On a side note.. The one time that my fiance went out of town for the night when we lived in the apartment, someone was murdered! Needless to say that did not help ease my fears.

Originally Posted by squirtle

That's exactly how I am... I won't do things after 11:00 pm such as take a shower, run the vacuum, have the volume up loud on the tv etc. Basically I won't do anything that might prevent me from hearing someone come inside. When my fiance was out of town I slept on the bed facing the bedroom door constantly. I wouldn't roll over to face the other way at all. I had my mace on the night stand along with a hammer (don't ask

).
I might need counseling

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My mum wanted me to go to counselling. I actually asked her to get someone to come round when she went out but she obviously wouldn't get a babysitter for a 16 year old.
My Mum lives in a bungalow at the end of the street with a big field beside it. She used to say nobody will break in, its the last house on the street but I knew that if anyone was gonna break in they would obviously pick our house because they could escape into the field.
I don't think I could have slept if they went away for the night. They just wouldn't have done it because of the mess I got in.
I really hope it gets easier for you because it is a real burden and can affect you in so many ways.

OK - I think I get the irrational crown - I'm terrified - I mean terrified of sunken ships. NOT being on the ship and it sinking - but swimming or sailing over anything that might have sunk in the past. I don't go boating, I don't swim in the ocean (I know - stupid cause if a ship sunk that close to shore it would kind of show up). I won't ever take a cruise because there are sunken things out there all over the place. Things like shows on the titanic and other discovery shows on sunken ships give me horrible nightmares. And the icing - I had to close my eyes during the sunken ship scene in Finding Nemo - No lie.

Originally Posted by Pombina

I really hope it gets easier for you because it is a real burden and can affect you in so many ways.

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Thanks I make jokes about it, but in reality it really is a burden. Thank goodness my fiance does what he can to prevent me from having to be alone. He has turned down invites to do things out of town, if I am unable to go along, simply because he knows how much trouble I have with being alone at night.
The strange thing is that sometimes the thought of spending the night alone with a hot bath and a glass of wine sounds relaxing. But once it gets to be that time I panic and never get my hot bath, unless I take it before the sun goes down

I have a huge fear of death. Not dying, but actually being dead. It is wierd - I will wake up in the middle of the night gripped in fear.

Originally Posted by Hydroaxe

Two of my sisters get the creeps from clowns too. For one it's because of the movie Poltergeist, but I don't know the reason for my youngest sister.

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Is that the one where the clown throws up blood out of the bathroom sink hole?
Ive been petrified of clowns because of that movie too!
I dont know what a 7 year old was doing watching that!

My fear is sharks, I'm like MissMew and watched Jaws when little and now I refuse to go into the ocean more than up to my ankles. Although when I went to Hawaii I really wanted to snorkel, so my ex and I found this place where you walk into the water from the beach, and it was kinda enclosed by a reef. There was no way on earth that I was going to jump in the ocean off of a boat not knowing what was down there waiting for me! The guide also brought in a surf board that I held onto for dear life the whole time, not sure how that would've helped me, but at least I didn't get lost I watch shark week religiously on Discovery though, and probably now more ABOUT sharks than any normal human being but it doesn't make a difference. If I was ever in the water and saw a shark I would probably stop breathing and sink to the bottom

I just thought of another. I have an irrational fear that something is going to happen to my house when I am not home and something will happen to Abby. I worry about fires, a burglar and her getting loose, etc.

I have two:

The first is kind of common: Needles. I cannot watch anyone (TV or reality) get pricked with a needle. I can sit through movies like the Exocist and Saw and be fine, but the instant that someone turns on ER I'm outta the room!

The second is that I fear being diagnosed as insane. Don't ask, but there are days that my life gets too crazy (walking gray cloud) and I fear I'll just lose it one day.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

I have two:

The first is kind of common: Needles. I cannot watch anyone (TV or reality) get pricked with a needle. I can sit through movies like the Exocist and Saw and be fine, but the instant that someone turns on ER I'm outta the room!

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I love it! this is the only reason why i want to become a nurse so i can jab those things into everyone

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

I just thought of another. I have an irrational fear that something is going to happen to my house when I am not home and something will happen to Abby. I worry about fires, a burglar and her getting loose, etc.

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That is probably one of the reasons why I'm so paranoid about the fact that the doors must be locked!!

Originally Posted by fwan

Is that the one where the clown throws up blood out of the bathroom sink hole?
Ive been petrified of clowns because of that movie too!
I dont know what a 7 year old was doing watching that!

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You're thinking of Stephen King's IT, which was actually a made-for-television mini-series. That was enough to make anyone fear clowns, believe me. And fortune cookies, actually. Funny, though, none of that bothered me.

You want a truly irrational fear? I am totally freaked out about zombies. I refuse to watch any movie containing zombies. There is not one rational reason I can think of to explain this fear, because I've never seen any of the movies or even read a book with a zombie in it!

If we want to talk about irrational fears that are a little more realistic, birds scare me. Especially fowl, like chickens, turkeys, geese, any large bird that people keep as pets.
Then there's the whole cockroach fear, which we will not go into because I will have nightmares for a week.
Grasshoppers creep me out, with their hard little bodies that make horrid sounds when they jump against things and their nasty little legs.

Do I sound crazy enough yet?