Irrational fears, what is yours?

[DawnM]

I have a fear of snakes. All snakes. Poisonous snakes. "Harmless" snakes. Pet snakes. Snakes in zoos. Snakes dead in the road. Snakes in magazines. Cartoon snakes.
I ran over a snake the other day, it was already dead in the road, but I still felt good about it.

A fear of snakes is NOT irrational!

 

[DawnM]

Me too! A couple of months ago, I was home alone and walked right by a snake. In. My. House. IN. MY. HOUSE!! (Granted it was about the size of a very large earth worm, but still! It was In. My. House!) I very quickly jumped up on the couch and kept it within eyesight (because once you lose sight of it, you will never feel safe again until it is found and dealt with). Luckily, it was slow moving. I called DH (he works about 5 min from the house). And he had the nerve not to answer his phone. Repeatedly. Like 30 times repeatedly. Finally, I decided I had to take action. Since it was so slow moving, I ran to the kitchen and got a large plastic popcorn bowl. I came back and waited for him to move away from the baseboard. Then I tossed the bowl on top of him and ran up on to a chair to watch him (in case he was able to free himself). I continued calling DH (he finally answered). I suggested we burn the house down afterwards, but DH said no.

We have had 3 in our house over the last 12 years we have lived here. All rat snakes, not poisonous, but still......they are SNAKES! One got in my kitchen! The other 2 were in the basement.

I too suggested burning the house down and/or moving. DH thought it was funny......I suggested we get marriage counseling because I was not having that reaction to my pain!

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I am terrified of sinkholes. I know the odds of falling in one are incredibly slim, but I lay awake at night sometimes worrying about that, especially when we are in Florida.

 

[Lori74]

fire
spiders
my kids getting feet stuck in railroad crossings while going for a walk
my kids falling and striking their heads on anything
my kids...well really to sum it up, if anyone has seen lemony snicketts unfortune events, i'm like meryl streeps character. i can totally relate!!!

 

[DawnM]

I am terrified of sinkholes. I know the odds of falling in one are incredibly slim, but I lay awake at night sometimes worrying about that, especially when we are in Florida.

We stayed in a condo in the Orlando area once. My youngest was about 10 or 11. He is now 14. Anyway, he had his own room and got up at 4:30 to use the bathroom and put his shirt on to leave the room (not sure why, guess he thought I would see him shirtless....hahaha!) Anyway, a scorpion had nested itself in his shirt and freaked out when trapped and stung him multiple times on the shoulder. He took his shirt off and saw it and came running in our room telling us about it.

I was SURE he was over-exagerating and it was a bug/mosquito or something and told him to kill it and go back to bed.

He killed it and then came back in our room. I was irritated but he kept saying, "Mom, it really hurts." DH and I got up and his shoulder was completely welted up, and DH went running into the bathroom and came back said that it WAS a scorpion! I felt terrible.

I didn't know FL had scorpions! I quickly looked it up to find out that FL scorpions aren't deadly, just can cause a wicked sting, and they said to monitor it for allergic reaction.

Poor thing, it was very hot to the touch and hurt and itched for about a week.

 

[KPeterso]

Fear of water and being surrounded by it. Cruising sounds like a total nightmare for me. I usually have a panic attack when people start talking about them. But I also do not like even being in pools or going in the ocean. Have lived in CA for 12 years and been in the pool about 5 times at my condo and to the beach twice (and barely stuck feet in the water). Yes, I totally realize it is an irrational fear! The movie Titanic did not help at all.

 

[MrsDuck]

Lizards. Difficult when you live in FL...

 

[SC Minnie]

Escalators - I didn't know I had an issue until I was on a business trip with a coworker. We were in the airport and he started laughing at me because I hesitate before stepping on an escalator. I always afraid I'm going to step on the edge and go toppling over. It's worse when I have luggage with me.

Caves- I get this panic feeling just watching someone on TV go in a cave. I have this feeling it could collapse at any moment.

 

[VandVsmama]

Boats. Hate them. All sizes. I won't even get on a cruise ship. I'll get on a ride boat at Disneyland or Disney World, but that's about it. I'm deathly afraid of the boat sinking and me and my family dying a horrible death. Any little wiggle or movement on the boat sets me off into freak out mode. Sheer panic. I'm able to hide it pretty well, so you can't really tell that I'm 2 seconds away from crying.

I never ever want to go on a cruise.
I never ever want to go on 1 of those parasailing things.

On our honeymoon, we took a ferry somewhere. Passenger only ferry. The motion dampening system went out and the swells were 10-15' high. It was 3 hr of a barf fest. Like being on a roller coaster that whole time and you couldn't get off. Horrible experience.

Another time, went out on a very quiet bay w/extended family for a late evening boat ride. Boat was small, 7 of us were on it. Watching them try to get that boat off of their trailer was just torture. Their truck almost went back all the way in the water...like underwater. It was nuts. I was a wreck for that whole hour-long boat ride.

In high school, we went on a family vacation in a tropical location. Sister & I went parasailing. The owners of the boat thought it would be funny to dunk me in the water while they reeled me back into the boat. Just as I went underwater, I breathed in, so I got a lung full of sea water. It was awful. I coughed it up all over the boat operator. He got mad at me. I yelled at him for dunking me. I held on for dear life the rest of the way back. Never again.

 

[sarahann77]

Frogs/toads - any amphibians really
lizards - since one jumped on me during one of the Garden Rocks concerts this spring. I don't know how I'll manage sitting there again. I was rather okay with them prior as long as I didn't step on one walking. I can't think of one without shivering now.

 

[Jaspers]

Aquatic plants, so the most harmless thing to be afraid of.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Toxic mold

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Boats - but not when they are in the water. Boats that are out of the water creep me out.

 

[ford family]

Stairs.
Not too bad going up but going down I have to be able to hold on to a bannister or else I freeze.
When going somewhere I plan the route in my head to avoid them.
On our recent trip to Tokyo the subway was a big problem until we found the entrances with escalators or lifts.

ford family

 

[TeresaBelle]

Choking! I get really panicky when eating, especially if I'm home alone. Or even when I have a cold and I'm extra congested.

 

[RangerPooh]

Birds! When I was young my grandparents had a farm and raised chickens, peacocks, and various birds for sale to local stores. I hated going into the bird house to feed/water/clean as they flew about their aviaries. It was like a scene out of 'the Birds'. Which my dad watched a lot when I was that age because it's one of his favorite movies. To this day my husband and kids tease me about how I freak out if a bird gets too close to me.

 

[kirstenb1]

Sharks! Ocean water is murky, and I will rarely go past my knees.

 

[disykat]

I can't kayak for fear of whales knocking me over.

Weird thing is I started having whale nightmares back when the only water I was around was lakes and rivers. Now, the places I might kayak actually could have whales so it's not such an irrational fear!

We tried kayaking (just an hour rental) off of Vancouver Island a few years back. I was okay because the water was clear and shallow and I could see a long way, we were very close to shore and not in a popular whale area, UNTIL DH thought it was funny to start talking about whales and debating the probability, etc. Kayak trip OVER! He totally doesn't get that you don't mention someone's phobias - he thinks it's funny.

He does the same thing with bats. Points them out at every opportunity even though he knows it means the night is OVER.

 

[lifesavacation]

Ladybugs

Being trapped in an mri machine

I'm embarrassed to say that I couldn't finish the one MRI I had Man, that was a bad experience. Absolute panic once I got in there and then my hands started getting tingly and the tech kept telling me not to move. Bad. Bad. Bad.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Just went through my fears and I don't think any of them are irrational. Spouse agrees, somewhat, LOL.