Rational and Irrational Fears...

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Sorry if there is already a post on this, but I couldn't find one. What are your rational, irrational, and just plain weird or off the wall fears? Clowns, dolls, spiders, scorpions, air travel when the flight is not ALL military personnel, moths, moth balls, yams, sweet taters, certain types of fruit juices, baby poo, and the list goes on. So let's hear it people...

Insects, dentists, forgetting something important, overly aggressive people, losing my bearings, loud unexpected noises...

I'm sure there are plenty more, but that's what came to mind. When my kids were infants, I always had this irrational fear I'd forget them, or leave them on top of the car.

I actually share some of those fears. I fear that when I have kids that I may forget them somewhere unintentionally of course. Have you ever gotten scared of an old person in a wheel chair's fart because they farted so hard you thought that they shot their guts out, only to find it was a soiled depends? Old person farts, people putting their fingers near my ears, and smacking my butt also scares the crap outta me.

Choking (and really having anything stuck in the throat even if it doesn't block the windpipe) is my biggest fear. I can't even watch it on TV! My fear of vomiting is a very close second.

My fear of spiders is rational, as some of them are venomous--but my inability to even look at pictures of them isn't.

Spiders and needles.

Falling- I don't like being put in a position when there is any real chance of me falling. I can handle going up a staircase or ladder, but going down does make me uncomfortable, especially if it is an escalator. It is easier to catch yourself falling going up than down.

Claustrophobia- Fear of small and enclosed spaces. If people or objects surround me all sides and entrap me whether intended or not, I start to panic. I won't go in elevators or small cars, either. I'll also avoid any standing room only environments.

I agree on the claustrophobia to some degree for myself. escalators scare me, but I still ride them.
I am also scared to death of certain types (brands of crayons).

Vomiting
Death or severe pain
Spiders
Snow
Humiliation
Some loud sudden noises
Insecurity (like losing my home)
Losing my self-control (like getting drunk)

Spiders, Sudden loud/high-pitched noises, going to the doctor, my stepmother's bad moods, being abandoned by everyone I care about, people in general.....

When I was little, some of my irrational fears were of thunder and lightning, and of touching cigarette butts and fecal matter. I once saw a cigarette butt someone had flicked into our backyard and freaked because I thought it was contaminating the yard, and my mom kept telling me to just pick it up, but I felt like I couldn't or I'd "get sick" or "die" (My parents really put the fear of God in me re: smoking being unhealthy, and I still don't smoke now even as an adult...not only bcuz it's bad for you, but bcuz I just have no interest). I was also scared of the two boys who lived across the street because if they saw me in my front yard, they'd coming running over and start playing too rough with me. It got to where I wouldn't even leave the house without at least one of my parents with me.

My irrational fears got worse after my parents' divorce - my mom told me once that I'd freak out if she took a different way home, and she would purposely drive different routes....she thought I freaked out bcuz I hated the change in routine, but if she'd bothered to ask, I would have told her that I was scared she was driving me out to somewhere in the boonies (and where I live is pretty close to the boonies) and was going to just leave me there the way she'd left my dad at our house (she'd moved into an apartment after the divorce was final).

I was also scared of gorillas for awhile, I think cuz of this book....I really don't understand why this book made me scared of gorillas; going back and looking at it, it's just a sweet story about a baby gorilla who was loved by everybody, lol. Maybe it was the illustrations. Annnnyyyway, my fear of gorillas was actually pretty short-lived, since Disney's Tarzan came out not long after my fear developed, and I saw it and really warmed up to the gorilla characters, like Terk and Kala.

- Mean people
- Crying babies
- Snakes
- Criminals/murderers
- Ghosts/spirits
- Heights (sometimes)

Reading other people's posts has reminded me of my fears. I don't know whether they are rational or irrational.

elevators - I fear accidents. I have seen some movies and tv dramas in which elevator accidents caused some gory accidents. There have also been real-life accidents that I read about in newspapers/heard about on tv news in which people got squashed to death/fell to death. I'm worried something like that could happen to the people I care about.

heights - I can't go near the window or the railing of the balcony on higher floors.

humiliation

germs and fungi etc. in food

(certain) illnesses

spiders (they're so creepy they give me the shivers.)
I'm also scared of fire the thought of being burnt is horrible.

Insects and snakes are kind of creepy, but I don't fear them.

Hights, flying. I don't like flying in airplanes. Though I have done it quite a few times. About worse way I can think of to die, would be falling to my death from 30,000 feet. Though I do like the views while I'm up there, I don't think I will ever fly again.

Large bodies of water. Like on the bridge going over the bay. The idea of falling into the middle of all that water, is too much for me.

But my real irrational fear is blood. Like bags of blood in the hospital. Looking at an accident victim in really bad condition, is not as bad for me as just seeing all the blood. I feel like I'm going to pass out when I see that much blood.

In no particular order:
Paperwork.
Crowded stores.
Standing in line, with people in back of me.
Scorpions.
Aggressive, loud, and bully-people.
Hospitals.
Loud noise, especially machinery.
Surprises.
Filth &/or germs.
Conversation with more than one other person at a time.
Bridges scare me as well.

Elevators scar the living crap out of me! I can't handle them unless my wife is with me or the front is glass. Something about them really causes me to freak out. I actually have mini-panic attacks when I am forced with going into a normal elevator. It was embarrassing because a psychologist found me in one losing it. When I explained to him, he just laughed and said to get over it. Having seen death, that doesn't really scare me. What scares me about that side of things is not getting to see all of the cool technology that I could learn about and use after I am gone.