What are you afraid of?

[Zantos]

Woodlice. When we first moved into our house, before we did loads of work on it, they were everywhere. You could just be minding your own business on the loo, or even in the comfort of your own bed, and they would just swarm. Whenever I see one I'm just terrified of the though of how many it's with and where they are right that moment. Hopefully not about to collapse in on me in their thousands.

I've also recently developed a fear of calling people. Despite having requested to my boss that I'm not put in a situation where I have to make more than a handful of phonecalls, it still terrifies me that someone will need some sort of favour and I'll end up on the line to a hundred angry people a day. I could understand it if I was cold calling or trying to get them to buy stuff, but it's people who have done courses coming in to finish paperwork and get their certificates, which should be a good thing! But after a fortnight of phone conversations of various levels of aggression, I got moved back to my normal department of paper filing and spreadsheet input, which I intend to stay in for the remainder of my contract. Now, even calling friends or family makes me feel a little nauseous, and I spend far more time texting.

 

[Rosiv]

I guess being genuinely trans, ive recently been having personal questions to whether
i have some sort of general dysphoria, or something more along the lines of gender
dysphoria. It scares me for if i was actually trans, i think id have to change my entire
life, and face insurmountable odds for myself. Maybe im just a stressed student, i dunno.

 

[Fujimora_Pantsu]

Death and degenerative brain diseases.

Not particularly interesting or irrational, but they are terrifying things.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Death.

Isn't that the underlying cause of all fears? That something might kill you? Cancer, spiders, being hit by a bus, etc, none of this would be scary if you were immortal, or they couldn't kill you.

I suppose dying by way of cancer frightens me most. A friend of mine passed away like that.

Captcha: clown around...

 

[Headsprouter]

I love insects, and any kind of arthropod, and while I was fascinated to be around a small group of large dragonflies while on holiday, they had me feeling extremely vulnerable. I felt on edge around them, seeing as if they wanted to they could "teleport" right next to my face. The thing is, dragonflies rarely make flight errors because of their impeccable eyesight, so I really had nothing to worry about...eh, I just thought I'd include that seeing as a lot of people are mentioning bugs.

I'm terrified by the thought of torture or extreme, drawn-out pain. Especially to do with my manhood and eyes. Those areas might be normal, though.

Pitch-black windows. Distant trees when they blow in the wind at night...

The unknown. Especially when you imply something terrible. Those who have read Barbie.avi will know what I mean.

Portraits. The less people in my paintings, the better. Even if a loved one had died, I'd probably not want them hanging on my wall.

Abandoned buildings...and that might be all the main ones. Of course the last one goes in hand with the unknown.

EDIT: Prison. There's bad people in there that will hurt me in the worst ways.

 

[sth1729]

Heights, social shaming, and losing my sisters.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Failing. Which is pretty useful, seeing as it keeps me working hard. I short-sell myself a lot, so I don't fall for biased relatives who tell me that my last ten or twenty pages are solid gold. I appreciate their comments - but they're not my thesis director or a reading committee.

 

[Bruenin]

Ditto, heights fucking terrify me.
Also, spiders. Goddamn, spiders. They're little demons.

^ This. Also being in an empty building in the dark. I hate being alone in the dark..... :S

I would think being alone would be a nice thing. It'd be much more terrifying if you weren't alone.

If something was with you the whole time. Just waiting.

 

[Johnny Impact]

Not a fan of heights. Or to put it another way, it's not height that scares me, it's instability. I've stood at the edge of an 800 foot cliff and felt pretty okay, because there was solid granite under me. I've been seven miles up in an aircraft and felt fine because the ride was smooth. On the other hand, climbing a twelve foot ladder makes me miserable.

I have a bit of social anxiety. I can function, I just don't care for crowds, or large groups of strangers.

I'm kind of afraid of dying alone, but I'm also afraid of making myself vulnerable to a potential mate. Every time I've tried that in the past, it..... let's say it's gone rather poorly and leave it at that.

Water I can't see the bottom of makes me nervous. I can swim fine, it's just the unknown factor.

 

[shrekfan246]

Also, what is with everyone being scared of spiders? What did those little guys ever do to you

"Why do you hate me? What did I do to you? Please don't hurt me..."​

The little ones aren't the problem.

Spoiler: It's the big ones you gotta watch out for.

I mean, personally I'm fortunate that I don't live anywhere where the spiders grow larger than an average of about three or four inches, but even that's enough to kick my freeze reaction. Had one of the biggest spiders I've seen in person before just hanging out in the hall a few months back, it took two good whacks from a stiff magazine to actually kill the thing, the first hit just stunned it.

OT: Besides big spiders, wasps/bees. I'm fairly convinced they spawned directly from Hell.

Heights are debatable. I'm not sure if it's heights or just not liking the sensation of not having my feet on solid ground, because I've never wanted to be in deep water and have a feeling of unease on boats as well.

For a less irrational one, I'm afraid of all of the potential medical issues I might have later in life based on everything my family members have gone through.

 

[lacktheknack]

Anything that obscures my vision. Namely, darkness and murky water.

There's something unsavory in them, I just KNOW it.

 

[shrekfan246]

The little ones aren't the problem.

Spoiler: It's the big ones you gotta watch out for.

I mean, personally I'm fortunate that I don't live anywhere where the spiders grow larger than an average of about three or four inches, but even that's enough to kick my freeze reaction. Had one of the biggest spiders I've seen in person before just hanging out in the hall a few months back, it took two good whacks from a stiff magazine to actually kill the thing, the first hit just stunned it.

Oh, I understand being scared of the ones that can hurt you via bites and/or venom, you won't see me gushing how cute a Black Widow is, but what does bother me is the people who are scared to death of totally harmless spiders who are completely incapable of harming you in any shape or form. Crushing a spider instead of letting them out does generally annoy me, its not like they are going to skin you alive if they touch you, if you are really squeamish, using a cup and piece of paper works fine.

I don't like being that close to them.

Unless they're the big, fat, hairy ones that move deceptively quickly, I generally leave spiders alone until they're intruding on my personal space; If you dangle down beside me while I'm showering, you're going down the drain, I don't care how harmless you are.

Sure, it doesn't make sense, but that's pretty much the definition of "irrational". Surely you have at least one thing you do that you can't explain rationally but would annoy or irritate other people.

 

[shootthebandit]

The little ones aren't the problem.

Spoiler: It's the big ones you gotta watch out for.

I mean, personally I'm fortunate that I don't live anywhere where the spiders grow larger than an average of about three or four inches, but even that's enough to kick my freeze reaction. Had one of the biggest spiders I've seen in person before just hanging out in the hall a few months back, it took two good whacks from a stiff magazine to actually kill the thing, the first hit just stunned it.

Oh, I understand being scared of the ones that can hurt you via bites and/or venom, you won't see me gushing how cute a Black Widow is, but what does bother me is the people who are scared to death of totally harmless spiders who are completely incapable of harming you in any shape or form. Crushing a spider instead of letting them out does generally annoy me, its not like they are going to skin you alive if they touch you, if you are really squeamish, using a cup and piece of paper works fine.

I agree. Big ones actually tend to be harmless even a tarantula is relatively safe. It might bite you but it aint vemonous, its the little black widows (female only, the males are completely harmless) they can kill you or if your really unlucky hospitalise you for a long time. From what ive heard (from people i know who live in australia) if you are a fully grown male you will probably survive but children and the elderly dont have a chance

 

[shrekfan246]

I don't like being that close to them.

Unless they're the big, fat, hairy ones that move deceptively quickly, I generally leave spiders alone until they're intruding on my personal space; If you dangle down beside me while I'm showering, you're going down the drain, I don't care how harmless you are.

Sure, it doesn't make sense, but that's pretty much the definition of "irrational". Surely you have at least one thing you do that you can't explain rationally but would annoy or irritate other people.

Would Fire Ants count? When I was a kid, I pulled a stone from a wall and a cluster of them fell onto my feet and they all bit me multiple times. Ever since, I wanted all Fire Ants to burn...although I think my fear of them is rational after the pain I felt (those fuckers bite hard)

To be perfectly frank, even non-'dangerous' spiders can often cause a decent amount of pain if they bite. They may be far less likely to do it than fire ants or wasps or even more aggressive species of spider, but that doesn't change the fact that they're creepy, crawly, and frequently look like they'd be perfectly happy to eat your soul right out of your body while you're still watching.

Can't think of any irrational fears at the moment,most of my fears (buried alive, burning alive) are totally rational.

Doesn't necessarily have to be a fear. I don't mind spiders up to a certain size, but I'm still going to take care of them if they're getting too close to me as more just a visceral reaction than anything else. Unless you count paranoia of always feeling like a spider is near me... waiting... watching...

 

[The Hero Killer]

Heights, flying insects, and the inevitability of death.

 

[Something Amyss]

To quote Adriand Monk, "everything."

Mostly heights.

I'm not wildly fond of dogs, either, but I was chewed on by a couple when I was a kid.

Unholy? Doesn't look that bad...

Spoiler: This unholy monster stops me sleeping at night...

"Fear me puny mortals"

That cat is piiiiiiiiiiiiissed.

 

[xmbts]

Being buried alive, after seeing that CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode where Nick gets buried alive, I have had a crazy fear ever since, thinking about it freaks me out.

Porcelain Dolls, slept in a room full of em as a child once...scarred me for life...

Also, what is with everyone being scared of spiders? What did those little guys ever do to you

"Why do you hate me? What did I do to you? Please don't hurt me..."​

I don't hate spiders, I'll even say that one is cute in a spidery way, however once they come within my personal space I get extremely jumpy and if they contact me that limb will convulse and flail, totally outside of my control. I can't explain this.

 

[Yopaz]

People. Which is ironic as I work in customer service.

Actually not really. Working with people and being close to people works differently. I am uncomfortable in crowds and I speak less the more people are participating in a conversation because it makes me feel uncomfortable, but I have no problem standing in front of a group of people and teaching.

OT: Relationships and intimacy. Sure, I want it, but the thought of it leaves me sweating and hyperventilating in terror.

 

[shootthebandit]

I agree. Big ones actually tend to be harmless even a tarantula is relatively safe. It might bite you but it aint vemonous, its the little black widows (female only, the males are completely harmless) they can kill you or if your really unlucky hospitalise you for a long time. From what ive heard (from people i know who live in australia) if you are a fully grown male you will probably survive but children and the elderly dont have a chance

I've held my friends tarantula, they are pretty chill. The spiders that can hurt you, oh yeah, feel free to run far away.

http://www.camelspiders.net/

the camel spider is not VERY dangerous but theres a lot of myths and facts going about. Apparantly their venom is a mild anesthetic (but that is a myth). They can still run very fast and are very tempermental. i know a few guys that work in the middle east that will tell you these fuckers are terrifying (and these guys are or where in the military) even if the myths aren't true

 

[kasperbbs]

Heights probably, but oddly enough i have no problem with it as long as i have something to hold onto, i just hate standing on the edge.