What are you afraid of?

[DeepGreenEyes]

To mark All Hallow's Eve Eve, I submit the following questions:

What frightens you?

1. In an amygdala-gripping, jump-out-of-the-creepy-bushes, tiny-furry-mammal-cortisol-survival-response kind of way?

2. In a personal, existential, gnawing, maybe-you-don't-tell-people sort of way?

 

[Endless_Night]

To mark All Hallow's Eve Eve, I submit the following questions:

What frightens you?

1. In an amygdala-gripping, jump-out-of-the-creepy-bushes, tiny-furry-mammal-cortisol-survival-response kind of way?

2. In a personal, existential, gnawing, maybe-you-don't-tell-people sort of way?

You first!

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

You first!

1a. Sharks. I know the stats. I'm not stupid. But when I swim in the ocean at any distance from shore, all I see in the murky water is Shark Week.

1b. Groggy copperheads and rattlers. I can never really relax on spring hikes because there are so many snakes active, waking up and sunning on rocks and across trails.

2a. Wasted potential. How's that for an egotistical fear? I really do have a form of St.Peter-as-bureaucrat on the wall of my head, in a cheap frame. When I die, I fear that he's gonna look over the Google doc and say,"Fuck. You got a resource rating of 8.1, and this is what you did? This? This is C+ work, at best."

2b et al. Plastic Adirondack chairs, things that are called BBQ/barbecue that I don't understand, right-wing politics, human eco-suicide, any number of potential dystopias and mayonnaise.

 

[KoPilot]

1. Balloons popping, needles suddenly appearing out of nowhere in front of my face so that I end up walking into them, and people having sex within earshot/sight.

2. Not being able to draw anymore.

BOO!

 

[seela]

I'm sure this is a trap, but I'll bite.

1a. Dogs. Big dogs, small dogs, walking dogs, sitting dogs, sleeping dogs. Just dogs. I don't usually talk about my fear of dogs, because surprisingly many people don't react well to it.

Last summer I started to cry spontaneously, when a dog came to sniff me when I was talking with a friend. The owner's reaction? "Rover's such a social dog, always wants to come greet people, I'm sure he'd love it if you'd pet him too. Awww, I see you're sad, petting Rover helps." The owner didn't even seem to understand my friend's very clear request to take the dog away.

1b. Having my face covered or in general just not having enough space around my face. I suppose it's some minor form of claustrophobia. Wearing a balaclava or one of those sex hoods (a.k.a. hoods of horror) can get me into a panic mode. I can't sleep if there's something too close to my face. Actually I'm fine with sleeping my face pretty much against a wall, but if it's something soft like a pillow (or another person) that I'm facing, I need lots of breathing room.

2a. That I'll never be able to move forward in life. That I've already peaked.

2b. That my joints learn new ways to fail me. I act pretty nonchalant about it outwardly, but yeah, I actually struggle a lot these days on some fronts. Not that I'd ever admit it to anybody in real life though.

 

[ecstaticsub]

1) Birds flying around in my house. It has happened more than a few times where a bird had flew down my chimney or in through an open window. I completely freak out.

2) I am too afraid to even hint at this one

 

[midwestyankee]

Revealing too much truth about myself on the Internet.

 

[Endless_Night]

1a. Sharks. And I don’t care about the stats; all you need is one. I can’t get in the ocean without giving myself whiplash from continuously twisting around to look behind. Murky water, you can’t see them coming! Clear water, you CAN see them coming!! Not that it makes any difference, really. If I ever saw a shark in open water I’d die straight away from a heart attack.

1b. Big wood cockroaches. Don’t ask. *shudder*

2a. Making bad decisions. The way I second guess myself you’d think a pending apocalypse hung on my every action.

2b. That my inner sexual submissive might stage a coup and take over RL if I let it out to play. Yeah, I know, trite, but true.


Note: I have to admit Seela's 2a is a pretty ghastly thought....

 

[IrisAlthea]

1a. Spiders
1b. Not being able to breathe.

2a. Not being able to take care of my family and myself.
2b. Humanity

 

[DarlingCunt]

I don't fuck with snakes. Noooo nooo heeeellll no!

I'm also afraid of eventually succumbing to my off-and-on depression.

 

[JekyllHydeGrl]

1. Spiders
2. Failure

 

[BiBunny]

1a. Dogs. Big dogs, small dogs, walking dogs, sitting dogs, sleeping dogs. Just dogs. I don't usually talk about my fear of dogs, because surprisingly many people don't react well to it.

Last summer I started to cry spontaneously, when a dog came to sniff me when I was talking with a friend. The owner's reaction? "Rover's such a social dog, always wants to come greet people, I'm sure he'd love it if you'd pet him too. Awww, I see you're sad, petting Rover helps." The owner didn't even seem to understand my friend's very clear request to take the dog away.

OMG, I totally get it.

I'm not really afraid of dogs (usually). I just don't like them, and I don't want them near me. (The same way I feel about children, incidentally.) But everybody thinks that you want their disgusting dogs (or children) all up in your face, and there's really no way to be nice about it when people are being so pushy. And then there are the ones who get angry about it....


Ok, here are mine.

1a.) Heights. This is the biggest one, the only one that probably does count as an outright phobia. I'm nearly six feet tall, and if I get anywhere higher than approximately my own eye level, I start losing my shit. Oddly enough, though, it doesn't bother me in planes or inside very safe buildings. I guess I think as long as I can't physically fall out of/off of the object in question, I'm ok?

2a.) I'm mildly claustrophobic, but crowds of people make me more jumpy than small rooms or whatever. It's the crush factor, I think. Also, even in very tight places, I'm ok as long as the air around me is cool. If it's warm enough to make me sweat, my brain decides I can't breathe, and shit gets real.

3a.) To a lesser degree, fire, spiders, frogs, lizards (anything that can leap, really), extremely long and/or narrow bridges, dams, and bodies of water with strong currents, particularly if they are also muddy. The water thing is so bizarrely specific that I'm almost certain I must've drowned in a past life or something.

1b.) In a more philosophical sense, I'm afraid of both nothing and everything at the same time. Nothing, because there's nothing out there that's nearly as terrifying as what goes on in my own head sometimes. And everything, because I never know what might set it off again.

 

[MeekMe]

1a. Zombie apocalypse

2a. Losing my Love

2b. Losing control

 

[rida]

1. Ouja Boards and any kind of Occult related play/game.
On the same token Haunted Houses.

2. Failing my kids as a parent.

 

[desertslave]

1. Holes that lead to dark places.
2. Losing the people I love.

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

1. Any animal larger than me with free access to my personal space. Horses really are stunning creatures, but I admire and respect them from a 2 horse long distance from the other side of the fence.

2. Dentists, being put on any drug that will knock me out, and running out of life time before I'm ready.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Excellent question, DGE

1a. BUGS! Omg they always manage to get tangled in my hair. Want to see something that is apparently hilarious? Somehow engineer the occasion of entangling a cicada in my hair, and watch me do the total freak out dance Not good enough? Ok, then try one of those big giant cockroaches, and watch me completely melt down. Just ask my friends, I'm hilarious. Or, as I refer to it, traumatized! I have been known to cry from the trauma of unexpectedly encountering either of these terrifying monsters...

1b. Heights. Very dangerous for me. I will back away from a perceived precipice, regardless of what is behind me, even if it is another precipice... I have also passed out. This isn't very safely done from heights, either.

2. Public water supplies. Genetically modified food. Constant chemical exposure... Hmmm, wonder why there are so many cases of autism and cancer and everything else? I don't.

 

[LallyH]

1 a Heights, or more specifically, fear of falling. Going up in the lift to the top of the Empire State is no problem to me and I enjoy the view. But made me walk up a flight of open plan stairs where I can see fresh air between me and the ground, and my legs buckle - the same feeling you get when you wake up from a particularly horrific nightmare

1 b Enclosed spaces. Should I ever have to have an MRI they will have to either knock me out or pump me so full of happy meds that I'm leading the singing.

2 That I went up a career dead end years ago and made a bad choice through lack of confidence in my own abilities.

 

[TheSilverLining]

1a. Spiders.

1b. Heights. I'm only 5ft - people this height were never designed to be too far from the ground.

2a. I have personal space issues. I need it; and I need people to avoid it.

2b. Something a little mainstream and predictable about dying alone and being eaten by alsations. Just to add weight to the stereotype, this is a recent wobble that only occurred once I was 30. I don't own an Alsation.

 

[Kalamain]

1 Being in a crowded area with people who want to talk to me or take up my time. Being in a crowded area is fine. It when people put demands on me that I freak.

2 Heights. Blackpool tower has a very small area at the top that has glass bit you can walk on. I did not know this. I nearly pee'd myself.

3 Disappointing people. Sounds silly but its true.

 

[redslady]

1a: Anything rodent. Doesn't matter if it's a so called pet or a nasty evil mole, vole, field mouse...you get the picture. Sends me into an immediate panic attack.

1b: Large groups of people behind me. I'm okay as long as my back is to a wall.

2a: Leaving things unsaid or undone. I'm trying to make sure the people who matter to me know how much I love and need them.

2b: Not having enough time.

 

[Keroin]

This actually took some time to answer, especially #1, because there aren't a lot of things that inspire full on panic-fear in me. I have been up close with poisonous snakes and spiders and sharks and, while it was frightening, I held my shit together just fine. So I don't know if I have an answer to #1? But...

#2a - Burning to death, especially being trapped in a situation where I couldn't choose to end my life to escape burning to death.

#2b - Anything that would make it impossible for me to write or tell stories.

#2c - Anything happening to my husband that would make him unable to care for himself or enjoy life in any form. He has made it clear that there are circumstances under which he would like me to help end his life and I would want to respect that but... Yeah. That scares the hell out of me.

 

[kiwi_submissive]

Spiders, spiders, spiders, spiders, spiders and flying. Even though I fly frequently, I am much better than I was.

Making a total dick of myself in front of a large group of people. I am actually good at that one and pretend it's a joke.

 

[dawn_of_night]

My first post on the dark side

1. Running out of yarn
The dark and flat sheets.

2. Failure, and just not being enough

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Spazzy cat + Christmas tree