What scares you?

I mean what REALLY scares you? I know, this topic is bound to draw a lot of sarcastic answers. Even if I said “no sarcastic/joke answers”, that would be a useless gesture. The topic is too tempting and nobody’s will power is that strong. So I’ll say this:

You may give a joke answer, but you must also include a serious answer.
Bonus points if you can include a reason or story that explains the fear.​

 

This may be pretty deep, but I fear the unknown. I fear it because I have control issues. I cannot control something that hasn't happened, yet. So I struggle with that. Sometimes I plan, think and OVER THINK things to the point I go really crazy.

There are many things I fear, but fearing the unknown is the biggest thing and always #1 on my list. I've learned to "Let go and Let God." Which means I do all that I can and I leave the results up to God. He decides the results, not me.

 

Trapped in an enclosed space.

Ever since that condo in Florida pancaked on itself, I've developed an irrational level of discomfort with enclosed/confined spaces. A slow death with no escape and plenty of time to freak out about it. I can't even talk about it anymore....

BTW, thanks Captain.

 

Drowning.. I have great respect for the power of water…

 

Are we talking irrational fears? Or only rational fears?

Swimming in deep water scares me, even though I am a good swimmer. But, only if I am alone in the water. I would classify this as an irrational fear, aside from situations where current or sharks may be present.

Rational fear: arc flash. Even with a suit on, it's pretty terrifying to think about. For context, I am an electrician.

 

Oh yeah. Electricity scares the shit out of me.

 

Needless / senseless war, potential Yellowstone super volcano eruption, potential killer asteroid strike, potential evil alien invasion against which we may have no defense, potential killer pandemic / disease against which there is no answer / vaccine for.

 

No brakes.

 

Driving on icy highways arounds other drivers. Driven on plenty of ice being from Colorado. But other drivers going to fast literally scares the shit out of me. Also being a FF I have seen plenty of bad wrecks.

 

Wow. There are some good ones here.

When I was in 5th grade my class took a field trip to the natural history museum. Among the dinosaur skeletons and taxidermied animals there was an Egyptian mummy. Not a very well preserved one. Though it was still mostly wrapped, its skull face was visible, with hollow eye sockets and broken teeth. The broken bones of its feet were also visible. It scared the hell out of me. After a couple of sleepless nights my mother asked what was bothering me, and I told her about the experience with the mummy. An art history teacher, she was delighted, and insisted we examine some books she had on Egyptology. Lots of pictures of other mummies, wrapped and unwrapped, and a detailed description of the process of mummification, and a note that tomb robbers were sometimes mummified alive. Perhaps she thought that having all the “interesting” facts would allay my fears. But I went from being afraid to petrified.

For two weeks afterwards I had to sleep in my brother’s bed with him. For years afterwards I would never go to sleep on my back with my legs stretched out straight. Like a mummy. Eventually my fear subsided. I came, ultimately to become fascinated with mummies, and enjoyed seeing them in the Ancient Egypt collection at the British Museum. Cured of my fear, I thought.

Recently my daughter was planning a backpacking trip in Patagonia. Argentina. And the topic of Eva Perón came up. Eva Perón was the beloved First Lady of Argentina until her death. Her body was embalmed and put on public display for two years. When her husband Juan Perón was displaced from office, her body disappeared for almost 20 years, when it was found in Italy, interred under a false name. During its transport the body had been damaged. Damage to the face and feet, just like the mummy I had seen at age 10. And guess who had to go looking for pictures. The outcome of that inquiry was totally predictable. My boyhood fears came flooding back. And for months afterward I was afraid of seeing those images in dark corners. Yep. In my sixties. Afraid of the dark. I’m getting a handle on it though. Maybe.

 

So the mummy fear is an irrational one. But I have a rational one too. At least I think it’s rational. Recently I had lunch with a friend of mine, at a deli perched atop the scenic Santa Monica mountains, just off of the (very curvy) Mulholland highway. After lunch he took me for a brisk ride in his Tesla, demonstrating the self driving mode, along a couple of miles of twisties, to terrifying effect. Talk about clenched buttocks!

 

I have a friend who is scared, nay....terrified of clowns. I found this out by accident about 4yrs ago.

I dressed up as Penny Wise from the movie "IT" one year for Halloween. I went all out. The suit, the fake wig, the makeup. I even had the red balloon. I won first place at the company Halloween party that year. Well, I wanted to brag that I won 1st place, so I took a picture and sent it to my friend Dave.

He immediately replied back "God Damn it! You know that clowns are my worst fear and trigger!" At first I was shocked because I had no idea. Then I got to thinking "I'm really going to fuck with him now..."

I drove to his work, while I was still dressed up and in full clown makeup and walked up behind him as he was walking to his truck and scared the ever loving shit out of him. I even yelled out "We all float down here, GEORGIE!" Then I chased him. His coworkers pissed themselves laughing. It took him about 10 months before he started talking to me. But during those 10 months he would randomly text me "You're still a dick!"

Yeah, that's what happens when you're my friend.

 

Thanks for sharing this! I bet a lot of us have phobias/fears based on a childhood experience.

 

Deep water. I almost drown when I was little and never forget the feeling.

 

That scares me too. I went snorkeling in Fiji while my husband went deep sea diving with the boat tour guide. It was just me, no one else, just snorkeling around the boat, a couple of miles or so from the shore. It was eerie under water, too quiet…it scared me so I just got back in the boat.

Other things that scare me include making a mistake at work and failing to set up my kids for success.

 

Joking: Bees (name the movie)

Not joking: I’m deathly afraid of a situation arising where I can’t provide/protect my family. This fear has been around 20+ years and shapes the way I work and what companies I work for. The last two multi day trips I’ve take something has happened with each of my daughters and my cell would blow up with voicemails when I’d get back to cell coverage. I haven’t been out in Al ostensibly a year because I get cold sweats now.

 

I have a fear of heights. That's why I took up Hangliding.

Deep water scares the shit out of me. Maybe I'll take up swimming.

 

Did you stay at one of the offshore island resorts in Fiji? If so, which one?

 

There’s something about being out in the ocean and knowing that of all the living things in the water you are the most poorly adapted to be there. I remember SCUBA diving in a kelp forest off Catalina Island and the seals were playing with us - barreling at us at high speed and veering off at the last second. If they were in a bad mood we would have been at their mercy.

 

I think my biggest fear is being thrown into deep water and drowning. I can't swim to save my life, and deep ocean water intimidates me! This is one reason I'm not a big fan of cruises.

Another one of mine is I fear freestanding heights. Put me up in a plane at 40,000 feet, and I am totally OK. Expecting me to stand on the edge of a cliff and looking down... not gonna happen.

Cheers,

Sean

 

I was on a Navy ship (USS Monticello '79) We went over the Marianas Trench, about 35,000 ft of water, it made me a little nervous, don't know why. So I guess drowning/very deep water would make me a little scared.

 

Uninsured drivers.

 

Lighting & Sharks! Stay in the boat!!!

 

sorry for predator…but it was ‘87

side note:
“Wary the ones absent of fear, for they are either blind or more dangerous than your deepest fathom”

 

For me it would be crowds of people. I call it being people claustrophobic

 

I have a pretty good ability to disconnect from from fear, or a reality. So I guess my fear is not being in control of how i feel. I have hiked many mountains and traversed cliffs in the passed, but my more recent "fear" of heights I believe was caused when I fell off a ladder cleaning gutters. No injuries, just alone and unable to move for a bit. So i guess I am not so much frightened, its the uncontrollable internal feeling I feel when I am at the edge of a drop off that i guess would be called fear. But i still do it. lol

Only other time i felt fear was when i blacked out and thought i was dead and there was nothing but darkness. The blackest black, the most silent of silence... Nothing..... and possibly forever.....

 

Tornadoes. We were in OKC 2 years ago to see my daughter graduate with her PhD. We were at dinner one evening and there was his faint noise outside. She was like, oh shit, we gotta go. It was the sirens they have all over the state and a tornado was 3 miles away. It wiped out miles of homes to the south. Later that night we were in our hotel room and the phone rang. It was a recording telling us to evacuate to the stairwell. Fuck that. I’ve lived near the coast all my life and both sat out, and evacuated from several hurricanes. You have days of warnings. Not so with tornadoes. One minute it’s raining. The next minute you’re fucked.

 

Idiots, those that don't keep safety in mind, e.g.: Speeding drivers going too fast for the current road situation(s) putting me and those I love in danger for no reason. Large crowds where, if a negative situation (violence, fire, etc.) were to arise limited escape potential. Lastly, driving over really high bridges, not rational, but there it is...

 

A tornado chase tour is on my bucket list.

And I guess you won’t like earthquakes. We don’t have warnings for those in CA. Well, we have an app that are supposed to warn you but still only tells you a split second before it happens.