Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls What do you fear?

So, I was a little bored while waiting on the line at the patisserie, and came up with a question to post when I'd get back.

Phobia is a usually irrational fear of something, which can reach to the point of obsession.

So, out of curiosity, what are your phobias? Mine is microbiophobia (fear of microbes).

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

P.S.: I found a list of phobias here . (Whoa, there are lots!!) I tried to include only the most usual ones.

P.P.S.: I'm not trying to say we are all obsessed, or cowards, or nuts. Just asking.

You needed to let us choose more than one option, Anna, for the truly paranoid among us!

LabRat

Agoraphobia, thou don't affect me too much now but when I was younger I wouldn't climb any stairs for quite a while. It's all stems from me falling down a cement stairs back in China for seven times while I was young doing a lot of damage to my head with lots of scars. I had to go to those Chinese hospital for stiches. Which also resulted me in having a deep rooted fear for physician, needle, or surgery until this very day. I can't even go into a clinic without freezing up. Although if it wasn't for my own purpose like if I'm visiting a friend or family in the hospital, then, I'm fine. That's probably why I avoid doing sports, to avoid getting hurt and to avoid hospital treatments.

I don't like to be crowded around also but not a phobia.

LOL Rat!! Oh my, do I sympathise as a fellow arachnophobe!!

I'm going to explain how I've dealt with it so far in hopes of helping people who are in the same situation (I saw when checking the results that at least one other FoLC has said they've got that phobia of planes).

Well, first, you need to have something to motivate you. You can't conquer a phobia just for the sake of conquering it. You need to think of something you absolutely *want* to do and can't do without taking a plane, such as, I don't know, if your biggest dream is to visit the Fiji Islands, or if you really, really want to attend an event on the other side of the planet, or if a really close friend of yours or a member of your family moves halfway across the world. You need something that basically gives you no choice: either you take the "*%#£$! flying thingy" (as I used to call them) or else you stay home and forget about it. You need something that makes you say: NO WAY I'm forgetting about it. The motivation has to be stronger than the phobia.

Now, you need time to work on your own phobia. It won't go away overnight. I've been working on my phobia of planes for almost three years, and I'm still not confident at all when the moment comes to board the thing. But it does get better with every flight.

I started off by watching planes take off. My parents and I were on holiday in Venice, and the campsite happens to be at the very end of the airport, so we really saw the planes take off. I observed dozens of them. I didn't see any of them crash, which helped.

The second step was to make the decision and set a date for my first flight. I talked with trusted friends about the phobia and told them I really wanted to conquer it. One of them convinced me almost two years ago that I could give it a try, and I made the decision thanks to the conversation with him: I would take a plane the following April, for a friends' gathering in the UK. The fact that it was in the UK gave me a back-up plan in case I couldn't do it (I could still take a train), plus it was going to be a short flight, so if I panicked, I wouldn't have to stay stuck up there for 8 hours or so. Also, a trusted friend of mine was going to fly with me. Flying for the first time just by yourself is really not something you want to do if you're plane-phobic. Oh, and I didn't tell anybody about it except the people who *had* to know. I didn't want additional pressure, especially if I freaked out at the last minute and ran out of the airport.

Anyway, first flight happened. Friend was here to reassure me even when I asked her every 30 seconds if that noise or that feeling was normal. I even shrieked and asked her what was that smoke coming out of the engines (!!!!!!!!!!!!) when in fact it was just clouds. Yes, I'm laughing about it now, but my heart just about stopped when I saw that!!

I'm not going to claim it was easy. Take-off and climbing up was the worst part, and that's one part of the flight that I still totally dislike.

But, much to my own disbelief, I did it.

Then it became a bit easier. I had my first transatlantic flight in October, where I even sat near the window for part of the flight and took plenty of pictures.

One of the biggest steps for me was last February, when I took my first transatlantic flight *by myself*. (and survived the experience!)

Now, to clarify, while calming pills and the like do calm you down when you're *on* the plane, they're not very useful for phobias. Yes, they will knock you out. But the worst of the panic is actually the anticipation before the flight. From the moment you take your ticket to the moment you're up in the air. I've learned to mostly control that. I'm mostly fine until a couple of weeks before the flight. Then there are a few nightmares, but again they're less and less frequent these days. The morning of the flight is still something I don't cope very well with, but I'm hoping to get better with this.

Anyway, my point is, if *I* could do it, anybody can. Because I was very, very much a plane-phobic.

Sorry to have rambled for so long!!!

Kaethel

I voted for openspaces and hieghts and other. I suffer panic attacks and the other is parking my car in an unknown parking spot or not knowing where to park my car. Thats weird i know but thats my 2 cents.
jen

What am I afraid of? Confined spaces. Bees and wasps. Terrified. Absolutely terrified.

I tend to feel like the walls are closing in around me even when I'm in a normal-sized room for too long, but where it's dark and confined... I remember my first trip to Ailwee Cave, there's this tunnel you have to walk through at the end, where's it's extremely dark and the walls are so tight you can't walk two abreast, and the ceiling is so low you have to crouch. I was *hyperventilating* by the time I got out. I also hate taking elevators and the like... which might be a problem when I get to Paris and want to go up the Eiffel Tower

And bees... I stepped on a wasp once when I was eight or nine and it stung me through the centre of my foot. Have hated and feared them ever since - can't do anything while one's in the room It really, really irritates me - not to mention the people I'm with!

I also don't like dogs, though I've never had any negative experience with them... to the best of my knowledge, anyway. Give me a kitty any day!

Sorcha

I have a complete phobia about being buried alive. I am fine in any other enclosed space lifts etc don't bother me at all, but I go into complete panic if I have to go under ground. I can't drive through a tunnel or go in a cave which can be a problem considering I studied Geology at uni and spent half the time having to be psyched up to go into caves and other places to look at rocks.
It all came to a head when I went to Norway on a field trip don't get me wrong it is me favorite country out of all the ones I have visited but they don't know how to go round anything, lakes, mountains they go through or under everything. On the way to our first camp site we went through 127 tunnels one even had traffic lights in the middle and doors at either end it was that long. I have to agree you need a reason to get over these things since going to Norway, it was a choice between going through the tunnels or not getting my degree, I am a lot better I can go through as long as I can see daylight at one end or the other or I am last in a cave so I know I can be first out.
Sorry to whitter on once I start on tunnels it is hard to get me to stop.

I did!! ... Didn't I? Because I certainly meant to.

Since you are all sharing your stories, I'll share mine too.

When I was (very) little, I was a kid like all others. I liked to play outside, didn't mind sitting down on the street, yard, soil or wherever we were playing, I climbed on trees and would touch almost anything.

Then, (around 5 or 6 years old) I started reading my father's Biology books. (I learned to read very young, and made a habit of reading anything available). But, as you understand, in Biology books you can find an awful lot on microbes, on illnesses they cause and other "pleasant" stuff.

During the next five or six years, it didn't affect my life that much. I did become a little more careful, but nothing abnormal.

When I was twelve, I started getting obsessed. I began with getting a shower every day after I got home for the day. (Well, up until then I had swimming practice every evening, so it wasn't that much of a difference.) But then it got really hopeless. Right now, I can only touch the floor of our home (and *some* of the other homes). Floors of other buildings, streets, pavements etc.? Not unless I am able to wash my hands afterwards. Same with things outside home, such as ballustrades, flowers, cars (I only have a tolerance for... what's their name, knobs? The part you open the car's door from.) and lots of other things.

I've tried to fight it, because I know that most people around me aren't like me and are perfectly healthy. (But then again, I haven't had a fever in years... unlike them.) Sometimes I do irrational stuff - say, I drop a pencil and have someone to pick it up for me, so that I don't touch it now that it's "dirty", but then I use it to write without washing it or something. I *know* it's irrational, but I can't help it.

They say that if you learn a lot about what you fear, you stop fearing it. Few people know that, but this is one of the reasons why I decided to try getting into Medicine. (Not the basic one, but I had certainly kept it in mind.) If I make it there and it helps my phobia, I'll let you know that this method works

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Actually, Anna, that sounds kind of like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - have you seen Jack Nicholson's As Good As It Gets?

I couldn't vote, because you didn't have an option for 'nothing'. So far I don't think I really have any phobias. I have things I don't like or try to avoid, but they don't seem to affect me the way my friends' phobias affect them.

And I have tremendous admiration for anyone who does have phobias - I've seen how a couple of friends have battled with theirs and shown incredible courage in learning to overcome them. Way to go, guys! And keep up the good work!


Wendy

My phobias? Hmm, where do I start.

Flying. Trains. Boats. Public Transportation. Heights. Bridges. Tunnles. Walking alone in the dark. Doctors.

I am sure there are more, but that's all that comes to mind right now.

I have conquered a lot of my fears -- when I was a kid, I was afraid of the phone and afraid of knocking on people's doors. Now, I actually use the phone quite regularly (although I do prefer email and im), and I do go to people's doors -- even if it takes me a while to psych myself up. I do go on and enjoy roller coasters. I did live on the ninth floor of a dormatory my freshman year. I do occasionaly go to the doctor and I do go to the dentist. I do drive over bridges and through tunnles -- even when I am frozen so I can't move. I even do walk alone in the dark through the city (although I am constantly on the look out for scary people). I have been on boats and trains (well, public transportation).

The only one of my fears that I haven't tried to conquer is flying. If I could fly the plane (or drive the train/bus), then I would absolutely go into a plane. However, I do not like the feeling of putting my life into someone else's hands! That's why I have to drive and no one else can when I am in the car. I want to control my own destiny.

- Laura

I have, but it's been a while.
I remember Nicholson's character more like a weirdo with behaviour issues, so I did some research and found out some very interesting facts. From what I gathered, OCD is a very serious state of mind that has to do with recurring thoughts and behaviours, and my own recurring thoughts and behaviours are not more often than a normal person's, I believe. They used to be when I was little - like rituals for stepping on pavement stones equal times with each foot, or brushing my hair same number of times from both sides - but I tried and managed to grow out of it. They've disappeared almost completely by now.

All the more reason to quit this microphobiac (as it seems to me) behaviour. I don't want to become an OCD patient, do I? But, you know, every time I say I'll quit it, I think "but microbes ARE dangerous! Why stop being careful?". And you get the idea...

(Time to see a shrink?)

There's always "other"... if you are curious to see the results. And you won't be lying, either

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

I have been working on conquering a phobia about driving on large highways. It used to be really bad, but now it's just uncomfortable.

Of course, now that I'm the one driving a group of us to Chicago next week for a mini FoLCfest, I figure I'll be cured by the time I return! (There's that motivating force that Kaethel mentioned!)

When I was really, really young - about 3 or 4 - there was a very popular TV ad from Esso that claimed if you used their gas, it would put 'a tiger in the tank.' For a very intense few months that totally confused my parents, I stopped flushing the toilet! I didn't want any tiger jumping out from the back of the toilet tank!

Irene

These two from the master list Anna linked struck me as... well funny.

This last one (tell me it's a joke :rolleyes: ) reminds me of something I heard: Who was the cruel person who decided to put an "S" in the word "lisp"? <g>

Anyway... enough OT... here are my fears:

Put me in the arachnaphobe and entomophobe category! If it has more than four legs, it is NOT my friend. This used to be a true phobia for me... I remember a time when I saw a spider on my jacket from across the room. I was paralyized and started crying. Didn't wear the jacket for a good few days. And if I found a bug in my bed... yipes! My dad would have to strip and wash my sheets and check *everywhere* in case there were more. I think I remember sleeping on the couch a few times even after he'd checked. This fear isn't so bad now... but spiders and roaches still get me pretty upset... even just hearing about them. See... there's this intersection that I'm terrified of... but not really the intersection, only the right most lane of the east bound part of the road... and only when I'm stopped at the traffic light in the first spot. It's not so bad when I'm *near* that first spot... but if I get stuck at that light...

Sara

LOL. Speaking as the poster child for therapy, I think we're all a little nutty sometimes.

I'll be first in line to say death creeps the hell out of me.

The flying thing gets to me, too, mostly international flights. People think I'm nuts when I say that just because I've done so much flying, but 9/11 really flipped me out. It's just not something I ever put on the 'what if' list, so when it actually did happen... And then of course, I was stuck in Turkey during the whole thing, so when they finally stuffed us onto a flight a week and a half later, I was like, you're kidding, right?

I don't mind the dark so much...it's what might be lurking around in it that bothers me. I flip out when I have to house-sit for my parents during the summer (they go on a lot of trips). I basically glue my Labrador to my side...and then wake him up when I hear something. :p No really, he's good about keeping watch over me, most of the time.

JD

Lucky you! Homer is hopeless in that respect. He has absolutely no guarding instincts whatsoever. Partly because he just adores the entire world and it obviously hasn't ever occurred to him that anyone could be up to anything but wanting to play and pet Homer :rolleyes: and partly because he is the world's biggest wuss.

He has never barked in his entire life (he's three now) - unless it's play barking when he's excited during a game. Doesn't bark at anyone knocking on the door, or if he hears something outside. Occasionally, now and then, he might become concerned enough about something he thinks he hears outside to insist that one of us goes check it out. Then he refuses to leave the living room and peeks around the doorframe until you give him the all-clear.

And at night - forget it. Homer sleeps sounder than the dead.

Got used to it now and really wouldn't have the little runt any other way. But after a couple of decades of keeping very security conscious German Shepherds before him, it was something of a shock for a while to realise he wasn't guarding your back.

One thing about Homer - he used to be a terrific little hunter-killer when it came to spiders. For a while I felt really secure and didn't care because I could rely on him to take care of any I saw. Then he got into the habit of playing with them like a cat plays with a mouse instead of killing them and the good times were over. <g>

Then, one night, he went after one of the huge ones. Caught it, threw it up in the air, whacked it a good tennis volley with his head as it came down and the next thing I knew, it was rocketing into the side of the sofa with a splat - just inches away from where I was sitting. Haven't trusted him since. <g>

Which wasn't as bad as my all-time favourite horror. The day I asked my German Shepherd Saxon to get one on the wall. He very nicely and delicately did - then wandered over and prompted dropped it - still alive - in my lap. Then looked at me with "What? Wasn't that what you wanted me to do?" puzzlement as I jumped up shrieking.

Is it any wonder I'm a spider basket-case?

LabRat

Snakes. I'm terrified of snakes. Those evil little buggers! :p
Well, I'm not scared if the snake is inside a terrarium, and I have no troubles at all holding a snake if I'm handed one. So zoos are no problems at all. But if I see a snake on the ground I panic, I scream and I run. Don't ask me why. It's just the way it is...

Dunno, Anna. I was the first person to vote on the poll after you and then it said 'vote for 1'. Now it says 'vote for `14'. Go figure. Maybe it was just my pc playing games.

LabRat

Spiders and Claustrophobia are mine. But not the usual type of claustrophobia, not me. I'm fine in close quarters...I can even ride in elevators, as long as I know that the doors will open when it stops. As soon as I realize I'm locked in, I shut down. My hubby found out the hard way when he locked me inside the restaurant he was managing as a joke...ha ha, real funny! Even though it wasn't a "small, closed-in" space, I still freaked out until he opened the door.

Oo, Sara, you would love the three-inch-long, flying roaches we have in Florida!!

I picked Other, since there wasn't a "no phobia" option. Flying doesn't bother me, I did it a lot when being shuffled between parents in the summer. Insects, spiders, other crawly things don't bother me, which is a good thing since the hubby's an arachnophobe. I'm the designated bug killer. I've just found out you have to be careful when dropping books on roaches.. blech. I'm fine with heights, as long as there's a railing (I may not have a phobia, but I'm not stupid, either! )

The only thing I have a real aversion to is scary movies, but that's because I've been traumatized enough. Freddy, The Ring, Jason.. you get a supernatural villain, and I will freak out a bit. If there's a mortal villain, that's fine, you can fight back. But you can't fight the supernatural! Stupid overactive imagination.