GTKY Wednesday

brookert615

What are you afraid of? Spiders, clowns, anything atypical?

ruby696

Anything with more than four legs is not to be trusted.

flowntheloop

Oh boy! Y'all are gonna think I'm insane. My crazy phobias:

Normalish fears:
Acrophobia- Fear of heights
Claustrophobia-Fear of enclosed spaces
Agorophobia- Fear of crowds and wide open spaces
^These three often occur together. I've heard that the inner ear may actually be involved!

Autophobia -Fear of being abandoned.
Glossophobia-Fear of public speaking and social interaction.
Necrophobia- Fear of dead bodies.
Thanatopobia - Fear of death. A pretty normal one I think.
Vehephobia - Fear of driving. Usually if it is a different route or in a more urban setting.
Spheksophobia - Fear of wasps. This is a recently developed one. I'm only afraid of yellow jackets as I'm allergic to them and I had a scarring experience last fall whilst solo hiking (I was stung over 20 times before I made it back to my husband. He had to smack them off of me as I was screaming and crying). Wasps in general don't bother me. Only the aggressive yellow jackets freak me out.

Some of my weirder ones:
Casadastraphobia/Anablephobia- Fear of falling into the sky. Wide open spaces, mountain tops, and sky watching always make me feel like I'm going to float away. This can be a major problem when driving. I had to wrap myself around my husband's arms and legs in order to watch the solar eclipse (a couple of years back) because I thought I was going to drift off.
Sidonglobophobia- Fear of cotton balls. Touching them, hearing them rip, thinking about them. Barf! Makes me panic thinking just about them. *gags*

chichiphin

Don't love the idea of being out at sea with open water... to include flying over oceans. 

kagesstarshroom

I don't love water, but I have to be close to it. Especially... murky water? I was fine in the Caribbean! But lakes/creeks/etc. give me the heebie jeebies. I don't even really like pools... but I'm not AFRAID of pools lol.

I used to be afraid to open doors I've never opened before, but mostly I have gotten past this.

When I was in 8th grade, I was convinced a white Mercedes was stalking me... so I had a general fear of all white Mercedes for a while lol.

That's all I got!

kbrown2385

Going blind! I want lasik but the idea of losing my sight terrifies me. Dh got it done a couple of years ago and I could barely listen to the dr talk about it.  

b_1029

I'm weirdly terrified of walking over those grates on city sidewalks haha!

brookert615

I also fear being in open water or over water. Knowing that I don't have an escape. Also birds. So afraid of birds! 

inthewoods23

I'm afraid of the day we stop using Schittz Creek gifs 🤣

I'll come up with something more serious once I get to having lunch!

shamrocandroll

I was near the finish line during the Boston Marathon bombing, and I still have a lingering general anxiety/paranoia in large crowds.  I also don't like unsecured heights.  I have a touch of vertigo, so that doesn't help.  Also.... fisher cats! 

@flowntheloop I didn't know there was a word for the cotton ball thing!  I wouldn't say I'm afraid of them, but just thinking about that feeling/sound is making me shudder right now.

Also not so much a fear as a pet peeve, but I can't stand mouth noises.  People eating/chewing loudly, dogs licking themselves, lip smacking, etc.  Same thing for the sound of people clipping their nails.  *shudder*

*edited for wordage

MJDsquared

@flowntheloop A few years ago I would've thought you were so weird for the cotton ball thing, but I've learned that it's actually pretty common! I don't have that fear, but lots of people do!

@shamrocandroll I had to Google fisher cats and thought they looked like adorable little land otters! But um then I saw some pictures with their teeth bared (one with a bloody snout...) and yeah, terrifying. But I feel that way about raccoons. Oh wow so cute but I don't ever want to see one up close and personal because they're vicious and terrifying.

whitealbum29

Heights and large bodies of water scare me.

Someone grabbed me and tried to steal my phone one night a few years ago when I was walking alone and now I have no tolerance for anyone walking behind me - no matter what time of day and whether or not I'm alone! I'll stop on the sidewalk and let them go past if I hear anyone behind me.

Oh also large cats like the Maine Coon freak me out.

@shamrocandroll - I forgot fisher cats existed but you just reminded me how scary they are. That must have been terrifying to be at the marathon! Thank god you were okay!

shamrocandroll

@MJDsquared @whitealbum29 It's more the sound they make.  They sound like a person screaming in the woods, and it makes my blood turn to ice every time I hear it.  They're viscous and have been known to attack and even kill house cats.

ETA here's a YouTube video of the sound they make in case you wanted some nightmares

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrvdzCGjbzw

inthewoods23

My fears include:

Our pets dying

DH dying and me having no clue how to navigate the adult things he takes care of

Losing our house

Tornadoes and really severe weather. Also not a fan of when the power goes out (I seem to really care about the food in our fridge lol)

I'm afraid of the dark to some degree. It all started after seeing Signs and watching the aliens walk out from the corn field in the news footage from Brazil (or whatever). Our house at the time had bay windows in the basement that looked out to the woods that were just beyond our backyard and I had this irrational fear that I would watch one of those aliens walk across those windows anytime I was down there when it was dark outside

Being high up on ledges and looking down

Creepy things like the house centipedes that crawl on our walls. Also large spiders and bugs. I can get over this most of the time. I don't freak out but would certainly rather not touch them!

On a lighter note, I have a fear of DH jumping out to scare me as I come around corners or enter/leave rooms. Gets me every time! But we always laugh about it.

kpearse99

@b_1029 I won't walk over those grates either!! hahaha I'm afraid I'll fall in! 

I'm terrified of clowns!

Also, any type of creepy crawly but especially large spiders, like Wolf Spiders.... these suckers are massive and you can see them move from across the room.... in the dark. Don't google them!!!

b_1029

Oooo @inthewoods23 you made me remember several more fears. My pets / mom dying and something happening to our house/ natural disaster...I would just panic and end up in trouble haha. 

c1kc1kpol1cn1k

Fear of Ant's, Fly's and lady bug's!  hahaha so ridiculous but I have long curly hair and for some reason a fly will be going by and get stuck ahhh freaks me out get away from my hair 

@kpearse99 ugh wolf spiders...'tis the season, we live in the country and now they are starting to pop up, you can hear them moving that's how loud they are

spacemountaineer

@shamrocandroll- that is a horrible sound. It reminds me of the mocking jays from the hunger games. 

I don't mind the ocean if I'm in a boat. However in the water on the surface or slightly below the surface (15' safety stop for scuba diving) freaks me out. I feel so vulnerable. I swim to the boat so fast after a dive and strip my flippers off as quickly as possible so I can get back into the boat. I'm far more comfortable being +40' below the surface hovering above a coral reef.  I also need something beneath me. No contential shelf diving for me (nothing beneath you just blueish-black water). I have no desire to dive the great blue hole in Belize. 

I've also have a horrible fear of heights and going in an elevator in a tall building. I have a reoccurring dream that I am in an elevator that free falls. 

inthewoods23

@c1kc1kpol1cn1k reminded me....

BEES! I HATE BEES! GET THOSE THINGS AWAY FROM ME!! STOP THINKING MY HAIR IS A FLOWER!

kpearse99

@c1kc1kpol1cn1k omg I almost threw up in my mouth thinking about the sound!!!
This is me right now....

 

kagesstarshroom

@b_1029 maybe don't read this story I am about to tell about city grates? ......... Okay you had your chance! when I lived in Boston, I was walking from campus (which was basically downtown Boston) to this place in Chinatown to get this delicious lunch I always used to get (Trader Joe's has a comparable thing--but no delicious mango juice-- I digress.) I was walking over one of those grates, and I happened to look down--and there was a guy staring back up at me!!! Haven't liked walking over them ever since. 

kagesstarshroom

@inthewoods23 OOOhhh that reminds me. I don't mind bees. And I am not AFRAID of ants, I just HATE them. Passionately. 

brookert615

@kagesstarshroom That is SO creepy!

I also have a fear of driving through tunnels (thanks Pittsburgh for having so many). But when I was commuting to college one of the tunnels had tiles that would randomly fall. Ever since I saw one fall I was petrified of it happening and breaking my windshield. 

b_1029

@kagesstarshroom uhhh that’s terrifying, I never even thought of that. I’m just scared of falling in, never to be seen again 😂

inthewoods23

@brookert615 that reminds me that my greatest driving fear is merging into a center lane on the freeway at the same time as another car on the other side of the lane I'm trying to merge in to.  AHHH

Regarding city grates - DH begged me to stop walking on them for HIS FEAR that I would fall through. Sometimes they do feel a bit loose! I hop over them on the sidewalk now like some kind of small child without a care in the world because DH thinks it's cute.

chellisam

Cockroaches and most bugs in general for me. I'm also terrified of the day my dog dies, because I know I'll be devastated.

emeraldduchess

I am afraid of fish, they make my skin crawl. I also find being out in the open ocean very unsettling ( I blame my family connection to the Titanic on that one).  

@shamrocandroll we have fisher cats in the woods behind our house.  The first time we heard them, DH was ready to call 911 because their screams sounded like a person being attacked. 

kerco925

Stink bugs.  As if regular bugs arent bad enough, ones that spray you with their stink juice are the effing worst. 

keikilove

@flowntheloop At one point I shared your fear of floating off into the ether. I was living in a huge city—which can already make a person feel disconnected. But then I realized that I kept feeling like I was hovering above my life, or outside of life in general. I once said to my boyfriend at the time, “I feel like I need to be tethered down to the earth. Otherwise I might float away.” Instead of saying I was crazy, he said he understood. I didn’t know it at the time but I was actually suffering from Lyme disease. That floating away sensation is a common symptom called Depersonalization or Dissociation. It went away once I got treated with antibiotics! (*Sidenote: I’ve had dreams of flying since I was a kid. I’m weird & actually HATE these dreams! The swooping, climbing, & dropping through the air makes me feel so sick! But I do feel like i know exactly what it feels like to be a bird or a skydiver. No thanks!!!)

As for all y’all’s other fears, it makes me think of a theory I heard on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday: Our current terrors are lingering memories of how we died in a past life. So if you drowned in a past life you may be terrified of deep water now, or if you fell from a high place to your death you may carry that trauma in your soul’s memory now, making you scared of heights. It’s a really interesting idea to me. 

My fear is slight claustrophobia, but especially when in enclosed places like elevators, tunnels, and indoor spaces like aquariums. I get worried the water will burst through the glass and we’ll all have nowhere to go. 

emeraldduchess

@keikilove that's interesting! 

kels0091

Aside from the obvious of being afraid of my bf dying, I’m horrified of falling. Which is odd since I fall a lot. 
I’m also really afraid of home intruders. My bf went off to school for a couple months and bought me a baseball bat to keep by the bed and it helped me sleep. 

mrsvp614

@kagesstarshroom That man staring through the grate is so damn creepy!

I'm somewhat claustrophobic. The only one not mentioned here is I don't like things that jump. Frogs, crickets, etc. Nope! 

shamrocandroll

Do any of you remember when there was an issue with sewer covers/grates accidentally becoming live with electricity and shocking dogs that walked over them?  Also, last year and the year before in Boston some manhole covers exploded.  Sooooo yeah... Boston definitely has a bad history with grates/sewer covers.

brookert615

@shamrocandroll I did not hear that but that is seriously so frightening!