Irrational Fears

When I was pregnant with my first child, my hsuband forbade me to put any clowns in his room.

He thought that they were creepy.

I didn't get it at the time. Now, I understand. I don't like clowns myself. At all.

When I was a kid, I thought that if I walked too close to the sewer drains, I'd fall down them. I had a plan in my head for how I'd alert people to my "under their feet" presence.

Yes. I read "It" by Stephen King. I still can't be in the shower if the water is not running. I have to get out right!away!

I remembered this when I went for a walk today and ended up sliding over towards the drain to get away from a too fast car.

I used to worry about getting my foot stuck in an escalator. And then, one day, I did.

What are your truly irrational fears - the ones that you know *probably* won't happen, but still might, and so you keep them in the back of your mind?

Comments

[Tammy]

I'm scared to death of snakes. Always have been. I hate walking through a dark house or dark building because what if I step on a snake that somehow managed to get inside??

[kalisa]

OMG I love irrational fears posts! Everyone's are so different and unique and crazy!!

My irrational fear is dropping my keys in the space between the elevator door and the floor where I'm getting on/off.

[Monica]

Not my fear, but my kiddo on the spectrum (and many other dx): he was terrified that we would run out of gas. I reassured him numerous times that I had been driving for over 30 years and had never, ever, ever run out of gas.

One night DH calls to let me know they (he had all 3 kids) were all okay and on their way home. They had run out of gas!!! He left DD in car with little guy and walked with our special guy to get gas. Then he saw a police car, so walked back to get the other kids. they all walked to gas station and back with gas. DH says that the kiddo was just fine, although DD says he was quite edgy.
But....he's never had an issue with running out of gas again....it happened and he lived through it!! yeh the small successes.

[chrissie]

Wow, may I suggest you never read the book IT by Stephen King. It's about a murderous clown living in the sewer. :)

[Kelly H]

I'm always afraid I'm going to accidentally walk into the mens room instead of the ladies room. I'm always reading the door 2, 3 times and checking to make sure. I've never actually done that (gone in the wrong room) but... I went to a conference once and was thinking about my "fear" and when I walked into the ladies room, there was what I thought was a man washing his hands and I said "oops! Sorry! Thought I was in the..." and as I am saying this, I realize, this is not a man at all but a woman who is just very masculine in her features and is, well, dressed like a man. She sees me react and is trying to tell me "No, it's okay. I'm a woman too..." but I was already b-lined out the door running away yelling "SORRY! I AM SO SORRY!! I AM AN IDIOT! I AM SO SORRY!!" Luckily, I never ran into this lovely woman again the rest of the conference or I would have had to leave. Or die. Or both.

[kathy Buehler]

Mice, with their little skittery feet!

[Kristen]

Fans spinning in a low-ceiling room freak me out. You'd think it's because of the fact that it could take my head off, but no, it's something about the fast circular motion. HATE FANS!!!HATE FANS!!! HATE FANS!!!

[jadine]

Oh, the clown thing of course, but also escalators. Not sure it's "irrational" exactly, but one day I was at a department store with my mom. I was 4 and was wearing an itchy grey dress with elephant print that my mom (the home economics teacher) sewed for me. She loved it. I hated it. I sat down on the escalator step (sliding upward to the 2nd floor), and just as she said, don't sit there, you'll get stuck! --- I got stuck. Scary, no one hurt, but the itchy elephant dress died. Good.

[christina]

I am also terrified of street drains. I give them a really wide berth. One of my biggest fears, though, is forgetting to turn off the stove. Every night I check and check and recheck and recheck the stove to make sure it's off. Sometimes I'll come back and check it again. I'm sure there's something messed up in my mind, but I don't know! My dad has the same phobia and same weird behavior!

[Nicole]

Going under or on bridges. Can barely handle driving over them (especially over water!), and going under train bridges? Forget it. I don't know what it is, or what caused it, but I have a thing about bridges.

[Luckyduck]

Yeah, the bridges over water thing for me, too. I'm rehearsing in my head the steps I need to take get out of my seatbelt, let the water in through the window, etc.

[Tara]

Every day I get on the elevators at work is a day that I wonder "Is this the day that the elevator cables break and I free fall to my death?"

[Megan]

When I was a kid, we lived on several acres of land that was mostly wooded, so to keep me out of the woods, my mom warned me about snakes. I fully believed that the woods were teaming with water moccasins, that a water moccasin would chase you, and if you were bitten, you would die a horrible death within minutes. To this day, I have sort of a morbid fascination and fear of snakes. I want to see them, but when a copperhead-looking thing crossed my path last summer on a hiking trip, I about broke my leg running away from it on a rocky, steep path, screaming the whole way.

And, my teachers used to say if we leaned back in our chairs, we would crack our head open. I thought that meant your head would crack open like an egg and had a vision of a head broken with the brain in the middle, in a pool of blood. Yes, I was apparently a twisted little kid.

I don't like drains for the same reason. I'm convinced I'll slip and most of my body will go down the drain but my head will catch and be crushed by the concrete. Also, one of my co-workers accidentally dropped her keys down a drain. So they really are evil.

[addy]

Escalators!!!! Terrified of the damn things.

[Karin]

I always pause before getting into an elevator just in case there's no elevator and I plummet to my death.

[Sandy]

Swimming in the ocean. I will never go over my head. Jaws did me in!!

[Stacey B.]

Just last night my 2 y.o. came to me and siad she was not going to bed because she was afraid of her wall. The wall she is referring to has nothing hanging on it, so it can't be that. This is not the first time she has told me this. I just find it funny that she is afraid of a wall...a wall.

[jenn]

when i was a kid, i was afraid of the bathtub drain. i was terrified that if i stayed in the tub after the drain was unplugged, that i'd get sucked down with the water and come out the other side looking like play-doh spaghetti...

[PamL]

When I was little, I was terrified to go outside at night in the dark. My dad would ask me to go to his van and get a pack of cigarettes. That's where he kept his extras. I would stand at the front door, count to 3 and then RUN as fast as I could, unlock the door, grab the cigarettes, shut the door, and run back as fast as I could, without looking anywhere else but at the van and then at the house. I would never, never look at anything in the yard or in the back of the van--it was a utility van with no windows except in front and I was terrified that there was something in the back. The funny thing is that I never told my mom or dad that I was terrified...I guess I just thought that if he asked me, I had to do it!

[Kathy]

I always feel weird talking about my irrational fear (and my husband sometimes makes fun of me after I told him about it), but I have this fear that I will have an uncontrollable urge to throw myself off the edge when in a high place. For example, we visited the Badlands a few years ago - really tough! Crazy I know!
And speaking of "It" by Stephen King, I really loved that book except I've always wondered what in the world was the reason for the children having sex when they were finding their way out of the sewer? Did that make any sense to you? I know I don't always "get" symbolism and tend to see things for what they are on the surface, but I just don't get that one. Let me know if you do!

[LizP]

Sharks ... in the bathtub. It's why I take showers.