@SKZW I don't even know if I have a rational explanation. I hate the idea of sticky things getting stuck to me. If I'm in control of the sticker, I can handle it. For instance, with taking the sticker off an apple. I'm still careful and make sure it gets entirely into the trash, though. But with "rogue" stickers... Oh man, it just really bothers me. My dad was drinking lemonade once and there was half a sticker attached to the lemon in his glass. It made me soooo uncomfortable. I mean, what if he ate it?! And where was the other half of the sticker? Bleck. Anywho, long story short, I just really hate the idea of stickers on me, especially without my knowledge. My husband knows not to even kid about it anymore.
@starphish18 : fair warning, I'm a writer, and I'm filing this one away in my "awesome character traits" file... because I've NEVER heard of this fear/discomfort before. Thanks for sharing the details! (And P.S. was the other half of the sticker cut through and still on the other half of the lemon? like, in someone else's drink glass? like, now there's TWO glasses out there with stickers in them?!) And I love that your hubbs doesn't bug you about it anymore. You poke that bear one too many times...
@SKZW You wouldn't even believe how many thoughts about that missing lemon sticker went through my head. Bandages are ok-ish, but not used ones that are just lying around and not in the trash. If you ever need more weird sticker story inspiration, let me know! Haha, I'm sure I could come up with plenty of stories. Like, I have to check every new article of clothing I buy to make sure all the tiny inspection stickers are gone. Or, we grow tomatillos and they have sticky husks. I have to make my husband "open" them. Oh! Tape...if a small piece gets stuck on me when I'm opening a package, I have a silent freak out.
I watch too many crime dramas, so I just KNOW I am going to be the victim of a violent crime - probably a serial killer. To echo some window fears, I like the blinds to be closed all of the time - especially at night. Strangely, the idea of someone watching me doesn't bother me THAT much - I just don't want to see them! If I looked out the window and saw a face looking in, I would die on the spot.
Also when I close my eyes during a shower, I think a shark will come through the shower head.
Honeycomb. I can't handle it. It makes me cry and feel violently unstable. I don't even know what to do with it when I see it. Other things with hole clusters bother me just as much, honeycomb is just the most prevalent and the first one I noticed. Also I thought I was alone in this and as a teen I found out both my mom and sister have the same reaction!
I watch too many crime dramas, so I just KNOW I am going to be the victim of a violent crime - probably a serial killer. To echo some window fears, I like the blinds to be closed all of the time - especially at night. Strangely, the idea of someone watching me doesn't bother me THAT much - I just don't want to see them! If I looked out the window and saw a face looking in, I would die on the spot.
Also when I close my eyes during a shower, I think a shark will come through the shower head.
@FlyChick Oh yes things with hole clusters. You know those weird ad pics on Internet pages, where they try to get your attention. There is one in particular that nearly gives me an anxiety attack. I can't get it off the screen quick enough.
One of my irrational fears is people who can do weird things with their body. For example, wiggle their ears, roll their tounges, roll their eyelids, and bend their fingers all the way back. It makes me nauseated and has been known to make me throw up.
Man! I hate when I work a 12-HR shift and miss all the fun!! I'll still play but sorry I'm late to the party.
At work, I am legit afraid I will get stuck in an elevator with a critically ill patient who will die and there's nothing I can do about it. Our elevators are REALLY crappy and somewhat unreliable so I guess it's not totally irrational.
My other is that I'll fall in the shower, become unconscious and the EMTs will have to drag my naked, slippery body out of the shower!! What a nightmare.
I'm terrified of bugs, specifically spiders. I scream and run, I usually let them live in my house unless DH is home because im too afraid to go near them. I'm also afraid of being sexually assaulted. I consider myself "scrappy" but honestly when I think about it, I'm a pretty small person and could be over powered easily. Which is partly why I learned how to shoot DH hunting rifles that we have at home, so I can protect myself if needed.
Last December there was a murder at my job, I work for county mental health and one client killed his wife (another client) on the floor below us. In the moment it wasn't scary, but pretty traumatic thinking back, and it's always something I think about when I meet with people alone in my office.
@mcvgal I feel the same way to some extent. Same height as you. I once met a guy at a networking event who was SO tall, I mean, he had to be like 8 feet, I'm not even kidding; the music was loud so everyone had to stand really close and talk right into the other person's ear and lean in SUPER close to hear each other... right into everyone's own "space"... and he was TOWERING over me, like, standing huge and tall right next to me, to start with, and then leaning down hovering right over me. I felt dwarfed, he was so huge. I'll never forget that. I mean, it would have been one thing if he was 8 feet tall but standing 5 feet away but that wasn't he case. It was definitely the annoying "hewasthisclose" proximity that made it worse but the height was incredibly overwhelming. (P.S. By the end of the next hour I saw him chatting with the tallest chick in the room, and it made me smile because he didn't have to hunch over quite so much with her.)
@mcvgal I'm 5'4" so he's almost a foot and a half taller than me. My face comes to his chest. I had never dated someone that much taller than me before but I like it. Height runs in my XH family, so even though he was just 6'2 our son has been predicted and is right on track to be 6'6. He just turned 10 and can basically look eye to eye with me. I guess I'm destined to be around tall people.
Salmonella and cross contamination when cooking with chicken! I actually avoided cooking with chicken for years because of this. I guess in my mind, if I get salmonella I'm dead. I absolutely cringe when I watch cooking shows and they just dab their hands on a towel after touching raw chicken. Fools, that does nothing!!
I usually wash my hands fully at least 8-10 times when cooking chicken. I also scrub the sink with tons if hot soapy water aftet I finish washing all the chicken-infected knives, plates, etc. I clorox wipe down all counters afterwards too.
I am way more normal about things with beef, but chicken = STERILIZE EVERYTHING OR DIE!
@AnnieKnitsALot I've never had salmonella but last summer I got a parasite (I believe from contaminated water at a lake) that they only really see in third world countries. It was insane. I was the most sick I've ever been for like 3 weeks. It was insane. But I survived!
Mine is spiders. It's actually a phobia for me. I get sweaty, increased heart rate, I gag/sometimes vomit and I can't go into a room if there is one in the room. (If I can't see it I'm okay though, unless somebody says there's a spider and I can't find it-that's an issue). I feel anxiety just writing this.
I have a lot of irrational fears that are based in social anxiety. For example, small group settings with people I don't know very well are terrifying to me (practically get cold sweats) but I'm happy as a clam in really large groups because I can blend in without social pressure. Also, elevators generally freak me out and I end up with a death grip on the railing just in case it starts to plummet. Although I doubt it'd help much.
Dolls puppets nut crackers don't trust them to not come alive and do something while I'm asleep. Also grates for sewers like in ny city there are so many grates. I won't walk over them because I fear I'll fall through.
Dolls puppets nut crackers don't trust them to not come alive and do something while I'm asleep. Also grates for sewers like in ny city there are so many grates. I won't walk over them because I fear I'll fall through.
@Yiggle09 : That's a good one, the grates. The rattley metallic clang of the grate tops... the holes that could trap your high heels... that hot billowy steamy air that stinks like a sewer... the pounding rushing sound of trains down there... the "miles down below" bottom that you can't see sometimes! Nope. Never walk over them.
Does the Nutcracker Suite music at Christmastime freak you out too? Or is it just having an actual nutcracker nearby you in your presence?
If you'd asked me anytime before I found out I was pregnant I would've say infertility. So thankful that's not the case.
Drops off when driving. I don't like when the blinds/ curtains are open at night, its creepy. Along those same lines, I get anxious when too many light are on at night. You can turn on every light in the house during the day and I don't mind, but at night? Ugh. I'm terrified of cockroaches, but that is so not irrational.
I'm incredibly late to the game....but I'll share mine. The list is long. I have SOOO much anxiety about driving. Like, I don't even have my license...so that I can avoid it. I believe it stems from losing one of my best friends in a car accident when I was 16. I'm constantly in fear of being in an accident. I would much rather fly.
I LOVE watching crime tv. Both dramatic and true life. But, I also have an overactive imagination....so I live in constant fear of something awful happening to me. I hear little sounds and my mind always jumps to the worst case scenario. (This could also stem from my neighbors daughter being kidnapped, raped and murdered when I was a kid. It was a high profile case. Kinda effed me up.)
not mine....but my best friend is TERRIFIED of fire trucks. If she sees one with lights and sirens blaring...she panics. Several times I've had to reach over and take the wheel because she's let go to cover her ears and close her eyes.
It is so interesting to read all of these!! Mine include: driving next to semi trucks, having the washer fall through our ceiling, drive home from work to see our house on fire......
It is so interesting to read all of these!! Mine include: driving next to semi trucks, having the washer fall through our ceiling, drive home from work to see our house on fire......
the fire one happened to my coworker two weeks before Christmas last year. She was following the fire trucks all the way home from work, and didn't know until she pulled up that it was for her home. She said it was the most awful feeling ever.
1.Really long red lights. They make me super uneasy because I'm afraid of being car jacked while my son and or my nephew is in the car. I have this fear that someone will come up to my window, put a gun to my head and force me out of the car and I won't have enough time to turn around and unbuckle them from their car seat. That the robber will take off in my car with my baby and possibly hurt him. Thinking of my son during those moments terrifies me and how he will be looking for me and crying and terrfied.
2. Losing control and somehow managing to drive off into a body of water while my son and/or nephew is in the car. I know I could free myself but I'm not sure if I would be able to free one of them, and having to choose which of them to free first.
Both of these fears were so much worse when I had them rear facing. Because there would be no way I could reach around and unbuckle them. I had to FF them a little after a year because my anxiety got so bad and I drove around a lot with both of them by myself.
@SKZW it is just having one near by. My uncle held me down and forced me to watch chucky as a kid and I have had issues with dolls and things like dolls since. I used to think I was having nightmares but now I know I was having night terrors dreams about my dolls coming alive and tickling me or hurting me picking me up and dropping me. I used to have to wake myself up. It was a strange part of my life but now I just dont trust them which sounds strange since an inanimate object isnt something people generally trust. But I straight up give dolls like an evil look when I see them and when I am at my moms she has a ton around so I will cover them when I am there. I am hoping to either never have a girl or that girl not be into dolls so I wont have to deal with them in my house.
@SparkySunDevil it sounds like at least two of our irrational fears are rooted in real-life trauma which I think makes them actually somewhat rational. Sorry you had to deal with both of those incidents and that they still affect you.
@RissaAnnmaria562 I worry about both of those things too. Not carjacking as much, but the thought has crossed my mind of what would happen if someone tried to carjack me with my son in the car. Whenever I'm in Portland and driving over a bridge I worry about the big earthquake hitting and the bridge collapsing. When I'm with my son I get extra worried because I think about the bridge collapsing and how I would get my son out of his carseat before the car sank.
Mine is if it's late at night and I am up washing my hands, I will not look in the mirror - I'm afraid of the bloody Mary thing coming true!!
I also am irrationally worried about the possible appearance of Bloody Mary correlated with nighttime hand washing. It's somehow oddly comforting that there is another person who shares this overly specific "concern". Particularly odd for me in that I am not generally suspicious, or a person who believes in or worries about all the other kinds of monsters/superstitions/supernatural. It's ONLY handwashing-related Bloody Mary.
Other irrational fears-- I am highly freaked out by raccoons. Only outdoors at night; I acknowledge that in other situations, they are pretty cute.
I worry about tornados kind of a lot for a person who doesn't live in tornado country, as a child I was TRAUMATIZED by slugs, even just the idea/existance of them, but that somehow went away, and I'm somewhat emetophobic (fear of vomiting/vomit), but working through that one. I better hurry up with that, because baby...
@Wildflowers and Ferns when I was like 7 years old my grandparents had a raccoon living in the crawl space above their carport who they suspected was crawling into the attic space above the adjacent dining area. They also suspected she might have babies. My grandfather decided the best way to confirm this was to send little 7-year-old me up a ladder and headfirst into the crawl space to look and see what was going on. Sure enough, mama raccoon with like 5 babies staring me right in the face. I am lucky to still have my face.
My most irrational fear is my fear of whales. Mind you, I live in the Midwest so the possibilities of me encountering one on any given day are pretty slim. But seeing them online or on tv, or even thinking about them gives me the heeby-jeebies. (It has to do with their size.)
Like others have said, I'm terrified of my house catching on fire. Not sure that it's irrational - I know a fair amount of people who've lost their homes to fire, and it's happened in my neighborhood more than once. The problem is sometimes I have to leave work to go home and check to make sure I didn't leave the curling iron/dryer/stove/twinkle lights/etc. on.
@Icarriedawatermelon completely agree. All of my irrational fears have gotten so much worse since DS was born because I now worry about something happening to me and leaving him behind.
Agreed with this!! I have never been a worrier/irrational person, but since having my son, I have such serious anxiety about something happening to me. My greatest fear is that my husband will be out of town and I die in my sleep so my poor son will be stuck in his crib waiting for someone to rescue him. It's so bad that I've given a co-worker the key code to my lock box (with a house key) and instruction to go to my house if I'm not in by 9 (I'm normally in between 7:30-8, so that's reasonable).
@Icarriedawatermelon completely agree. All of my irrational fears have gotten so much worse since DS was born because I now worry about something happening to me and leaving him behind.
Agreed with this!! I have never been a worrier/irrational person, but since having my son, I have such serious anxiety about something happening to me. My greatest fear is that my husband will be out of town and I die in my sleep so my poor son will be stuck in his crib waiting for someone to rescue him. It's so bad that I've given a co-worker the key code to my lock box (with a house key) and instruction to go to my house if I'm not in by 9 (I'm normally in between 7:30-8, so that's reasonable).
Also in agreement! If I start thinking about it too much, I will get serious anxiety about "what would happen if..." scenarios. (Someone earlier mentioned driving by semi-trailers on the highway and I nearly started shaking, here at my desk, just thinking about it!) I think that's a great plan you have in place, with asking the coworker to go into your house. I hope that gives you peace of mind.
Awhile ago I made the decision to get all of our affairs in order (kind of morbid, I know) and we took the time to fill out all the paperwork and get it all legal and on file. On a basic level, I do feel peace of mind knowing that people have been chosen and informed of our wishes and that our LO will be cared for financially and emotionally. It wasn't cheap to do (like $1K) but all of that paperwork is finalized and in place and it provides me with a sense of "okay, we've done what we need to do." One more fun part of being an adult! (We didn't even have wills until we had a child... and I'm thinking a lot of people have that "uh-oh" moment once there's a new little roommate to think about.)
@SKZW random and not baby related, but in the military if a single soldier dies without a will, and their parents are divorced, their belongs go to the oldest parent! I always thought that was so interesting!
All that to say, it's important to have a will, especially with kids.
Re: GTKY- Irrational Fears
@SKZW I don't even know if I have a rational explanation. I hate the idea of sticky things getting stuck to me. If I'm in control of the sticker, I can handle it. For instance, with taking the sticker off an apple. I'm still careful and make sure it gets entirely into the trash, though. But with "rogue" stickers... Oh man, it just really bothers me. My dad was drinking lemonade once and there was half a sticker attached to the lemon in his glass. It made me soooo uncomfortable. I mean, what if he ate it?! And where was the other half of the sticker? Bleck. Anywho, long story short, I just really hate the idea of stickers on me, especially without my knowledge. My husband knows not to even kid about it anymore.
I can completely handle a champagne cork so long as someone doesn't sneak up behind me to open it.
May17 Siggy Challenge
Labor
Also when I close my eyes during a shower, I think a shark will come through the shower head.
DD: 6
DS: 2
https://www.rt.com/viral/361233-creepy-voyeur-halloween-prop/
@emilyalso : seriously don't look at it! it's a creepy window thing!
One of my irrational fears is people who can do weird things with their body. For example, wiggle their ears, roll their tounges, roll their eyelids, and bend their fingers all the way back. It makes me nauseated and has been known to make me throw up.
EDD: 06/25/2006 M/C: 11/03/2005
EDD: 04/08/2012 M/C: 09/03/2011
EDD: 12/27/2012 Born Sleeping: 07/19/2012
EDD: 12/07/2013 M/C 05/30/2013 & 05/31/2013
EDD: 07/01/2016 Born sleeping: 03/02/2016
At work, I am legit afraid I will get stuck in an elevator with a critically ill patient who will die and there's nothing I can do about it. Our elevators are REALLY crappy and somewhat unreliable so I guess it's not totally irrational.
My other is that I'll fall in the shower, become unconscious and the EMTs will have to drag my naked, slippery body out of the shower!! What a nightmare.
I'm terrified of bugs, specifically spiders. I scream and run, I usually let them live in my house unless DH is home because im too afraid to go near them.
I'm also afraid of being sexually assaulted. I consider myself "scrappy" but honestly when I think about it, I'm a pretty small person and could be over powered easily. Which is partly why I learned how to shoot DH hunting rifles that we have at home, so I can protect myself if needed.
Last December there was a murder at my job, I work for county mental health and one client killed his wife (another client) on the floor below us. In the moment it wasn't scary, but pretty traumatic thinking back, and it's always something I think about when I meet with people alone in my office.
11.2011 - DS1
02.2013 - loss at 6 wks
06.2014 - DS2
10.2015 - loss at 12 wks
03.2017 - DD
EDD: 06/25/2006 M/C: 11/03/2005
EDD: 04/08/2012 M/C: 09/03/2011
EDD: 12/27/2012 Born Sleeping: 07/19/2012
EDD: 12/07/2013 M/C 05/30/2013 & 05/31/2013
EDD: 07/01/2016 Born sleeping: 03/02/2016
I usually wash my hands fully at least 8-10 times when cooking chicken. I also scrub the sink with tons if hot soapy water aftet I finish washing all the chicken-infected knives, plates, etc. I clorox wipe down all counters afterwards too.
I am way more normal about things with beef, but chicken = STERILIZE EVERYTHING OR DIE!
Me: 26 DH: 28
TTC #1 since 06/2014
BFP #1 09/23/15. MMC discovered 11/24/2015
BFP #2 08/24/16 EDD 05/08/17
Does the Nutcracker Suite music at Christmastime freak you out too? Or is it just having an actual nutcracker nearby you in your presence?
1st Baby 5/12/17, Henry
I LOVE watching crime tv. Both dramatic and true life. But, I also have an overactive imagination....so I live in constant fear of something awful happening to me. I hear little sounds and my mind always jumps to the worst case scenario. (This could also stem from my neighbors daughter being kidnapped, raped and murdered when I was a kid. It was a high profile case. Kinda effed me up.)
not mine....but my best friend is TERRIFIED of fire trucks. If she sees one with lights and sirens blaring...she panics. Several times I've had to reach over and take the wheel because she's let go to cover her ears and close her eyes.
Mine include: driving next to semi trucks, having the washer fall through our ceiling, drive home from work to see our house on fire......
2. Losing control and somehow managing to drive off into a body of water while my son and/or nephew is in the car. I know I could free myself but I'm not sure if I would be able to free one of them, and having to choose which of them to free first.
Both of these fears were so much worse when I had them rear facing. Because there would be no way I could reach around and unbuckle them. I had to FF them a little after a year because my anxiety got so bad and I drove around a lot with both of them by myself.
@RissaAnnmaria562 I worry about both of those things too. Not carjacking as much, but the thought has crossed my mind of what would happen if someone tried to carjack me with my son in the car. Whenever I'm in Portland and driving over a bridge I worry about the big earthquake hitting and the bridge collapsing. When I'm with my son I get extra worried because I think about the bridge collapsing and how I would get my son out of his carseat before the car sank.
Other irrational fears-- I am highly freaked out by raccoons. Only outdoors at night; I acknowledge that in other situations, they are pretty cute.
I worry about tornados kind of a lot for a person who doesn't live in tornado country, as a child I was TRAUMATIZED by slugs, even just the idea/existance of them, but that somehow went away, and I'm somewhat emetophobic (fear of vomiting/vomit), but working through that one. I better hurry up with that, because baby...
My most irrational fear is my fear of whales. Mind you, I live in the Midwest so the possibilities of me encountering one on any given day are pretty slim. But seeing them online or on tv, or even thinking about them gives me the heeby-jeebies. (It has to do with their size.)
Like others have said, I'm terrified of my house catching on fire. Not sure that it's irrational - I know a fair amount of people who've lost their homes to fire, and it's happened in my neighborhood more than once. The problem is sometimes I have to leave work to go home and check to make sure I didn't leave the curling iron/dryer/stove/twinkle lights/etc. on.
Haha, yeah... I don't know if my racoon fear is rooted in the fact my town had a rabid one found when I was a child, or is just random.
Awhile ago I made the decision to get all of our affairs in order (kind of morbid, I know) and we took the time to fill out all the paperwork and get it all legal and on file. On a basic level, I do feel peace of mind knowing that people have been chosen and informed of our wishes and that our LO will be cared for financially and emotionally. It wasn't cheap to do (like $1K) but all of that paperwork is finalized and in place and it provides me with a sense of "okay, we've done what we need to do." One more fun part of being an adult! (We didn't even have wills until we had a child... and I'm thinking a lot of people have that "uh-oh" moment once there's a new little roommate to think about.)
All that to say, it's important to have a will, especially with kids.