question - i'm just sitting here (in the dark) and i'm curious as to what other people's irrational fears are. i'm 27 years old and i'm terrified of a few things.

the first being the dark. honestly - i have SUCH troubles sleeping at night because i am honest to god kept awake by fear of being attacked by something in the dark or seeing something standing somewhere in my room, etc...i know i'm not the only one that has this fear - but it's horrible cuz it keeps me from sleeping well at night.

and the second fear - anything tight around my neck. i can NOT wear turtle necks (never owned one) or anything tight such as a choker or any type of tight necklace. just thinking about choking or not being able to breathe makes my throat close up just a little bit.

so, anyways, i'm just curious what other people's irrational fears are.

I have always been afraid of the dark. I feel safe with my big dog in the bedroom while I sleep. My DH works a lot of night time hours.
My biggest fear is of spiders. I am also afraid of heights. I used to dive off 100 foot cliffs when I was young, but now I'm afraid to be 10 ft. off the ground. Also, terrified of flying, never been on a plane.

Needles. Any time I have to have blood taken or a shot, I go into panic mode for weeks. Someone has to take me to the doctor, and I have to lay down or i'm passed out! Spiders are another biggie. If I find one in my bedroom, that sucker is history if I have to chase it around for an hour! I'm not sleeping with THAT loose in the house!

elevators- i'm scared of the dropping uncontrollably. plus, being stuck in them sucks.

opening yogurt containers- simply the act. i always get a mental picture of the yogurt splattering all over me. it's never happened, but it makes my heart race, lol

driving in the rain- accidents. suck.

Water. I absolutely hate to swim, even in swimming pools. I do realize it's irrational and I can stand there and look at the water and think okay, nothing to fear but as soon as I get in, I panic. Literally, my body takes control. I draw my feet up as close to my bottom as I can and strike out for the side of the pool to get out as fast as I can. In my head, I know there's nothing in the water but when I'm in the water, I feel pursued.

I live around the corner from the beach now and have managed to paddle about ankle deep but I can't fathom going any deeper. *shivers*

M-I-C-E.
ugh. I can barely type the word.

AROUND HOT OIL, or DEEP FRYING. My god, once I had to melt butter and I had no microwave so I did it the old fashion way. I'm terrified of being scalded by hot oil and becoming deformed and such. When I saw it melting in the pot, I started feeling nauseous and starts to break into a sweat, and my heart was racing (Man, it was nerve-wrecking!).

Spiders, heights and dentists. Oh and fog, totally creeps me out.

I usually have to take something (atavan) when seeing my dentist. Even then I will be lying there with tears streaming down my face. My body completely stiff. Poor guy,,, but without the atavan I would be sobbing,,,and whimpering. And eventually passing out. Ive had the same dentist for 19 years...
we don't talk about spiders in our house.

Driving in snow scares the mess out of me. I grew up in the mountains, so it shouldn't freak me out, but I'm terrible to be in a car with when the snow is falling. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE snow. It just terrifies me to drive in it.

And I also have a fear of being choked. I'm accutely aware of anything around my neck. It makes me kinda jumpy, actually. If someone comes up behind me and puts their hands on my shoulders or something when I'm not expecting it, they run the risk of getting seriously injured.

I drive a school bus so I have no fear......hehe

Kidding really I am afraid of opening biscuits. When I have to do it my heart starts to race.When they POP I jump every single time. I use to be afraid of spiders but when we moved to the country there were way to may to call hubby all the time so I just close my eyes a strike.

Lynn

Heights, needles and I can't swim in any kind of body of water that I can't see the bottom of.

I'm terribly afraid of falling.
And I mean as in I can't walk down steep hills, some staircases, climb a small rock etc.
I can ALWAYS go up something, but I can't always go back down without much anxiety.
I think that it has to do with my size and my lack of balance (I have NEVER had good balance at any weight).
Like when we would go out to the lake, and we'd have to walk down a small slope to get to our swimming hole, I couldn't do it without help. I really that that it is the looking down part...not being able to judge how steep or how big of a step or that it looks like such a looong way down. Couple that with my lack of balance and its no wonder that I don't want to do anything adventurous.

New prescription medications (this started after an allergic reaction to penicillin that almost killed me) and allergic reactions in general.

Flying (way less than I used to be, though, but it still makes me very uncomfortable).

Medical issues (again, less than I used to be, but I used to think I had appendicitis and panic every couple weeks or so, not to mention all of the "heart attacks" I thought I was having...at age 23...granted, I was overweight, but it was a fairly constant paranoia).

Drowning and burning in a fire.

I think maybe it's the whole suffocating thing, not being able to breathe. But two friends of mine died when their house caught fire and I've been terrified of it ever since. In fact, after they died, I couldn't sleep with the lights out for a month. I just kept getting these horrible visuals because my girlfriend was found in a closet with clothes pushed up against the crack of the door to keep the smoke out and her husband was found on the stairs, they were trapped in the upstairs portion of the house.

So yep, that's been a huge fear of mine for a long time. And again, drowning. And I'm like you, I can't stand anything around my neck. I don't even like anyone TOUCHING my neck. If someone comes up to me and grabs me around the neck, even just playing, I freak.

Another one is flying. You won't get me on a plane. If I can't get to where I wanna go by land vehicles, I ain't goin.

Hospitals, have had so many bad experiences in them....I have a panic attack if I know I'm going, or even if I'm just in the waiting room.... it's the smell, the sick people, the noises...

Dentists are another... the sounds of the drills and junk.... ICK!

I'm also scared of sitting in the passanger seat in the front of cars...longgggggg story...in the back seat I'm fine, and I don't drive, but sitting in the front passanger seat... I panic...