Do you have a phobia? What is it?
 

I did a search but, I didn't see anything. I thought we had something like this a few years ago but, I didn't see it. If there is, I'm not going to search that hard for it, so I just started a new one.

I might have more but, right now, I think my two biggest phobias are claustrophobia, and as much as I love flight, I also have a serious fear of heights. I looked it up and it's called acrophobia. But, I couldn't emagine being closed in something really, really small. Oh, dear God, I would just die!

Clowns. I know it's cliche, but holy crap, they are scary. Like, about-to-have-a-panic-attack scary.

I'm also afraid of the water, and don't even like to take baths or get in hot tubs because of the slight pressure of the water on my chest. Odd, because I grew up on a Great Lake.

Someone pull up the old fear of clowns post...

Spiders and drains.

The drains thing might sound weird, but I hate being near them, I refuse to touch them.. it’s just a thing. I don’t even really know what in particular makes me so “afraid” of them. I hate taking baths (for many reasons), and bubble baths especially, because I can’t see the drain, and I’m afraid my feet will get too close. Whenever I’m in a hot tub, I have to keep my feet off the floor. In the shower, I find myself constantly looking back at the drain (don’t know why!), and I never stand close to it. Even if I see a commercial/tv show/movie with someone in the shower, and I think for even a second that their feet are close to the drain, I get uncomfortable. Filters are also included in this category, and ironically, I swam on teams for ten years.

I’ve Googled this before, and while it seems like many people have the same fear, I can’t seem to find a name for it! If someone does, let me know :D

lol
then you wouldn't like Charlotte (my pet Mexican Red Knee tarantula) I have a scorpion, too.:p

This is me, too. The pool filters thing was because when I was little and in swim lessons, a kid at The Y told me that the filter was a shark cage below the pool and it stuck with me.

The drain thing (and tub faucet as well) was because I thought the guy from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that pulls that guy's heart through his chest might come through the drain or faucet and steal my heart. No clue why I thought that dude would hang out in my plumbing.

I don't have any phobias that I know of, but I have OCD (not as bad as it was when I was younger, but enough for people to laugh at me lol).

I thought you were afraid of clowns.

Oh, I also have a fear of MAN-MADE heights.

Pike's Peak? Just fine.
St. Louis Arch? Terrifying

Nope. I had moments when I was younger when I was scared of Pennywise (after watching IT and then walking outside at night), but it never followed me into adulthood. I am a HUGE fan of horror/thriller/scary movies and have watched them for my entire life. There are few things that can scare me, but several things that make me squirm (hence the OCD lol).

I am with you on the drain thing. I try to stay away from them in the shower too. I have another strange fear as well, plant roots. I am not sure what it is about them, but they creep me out.

Yep. I love horror movies, too. Not the dumb ones (like "Delta Delta Die" lol I'm kidding) but, the ones that make me sleep with the lights on.

I have a very serious fear of flying. It came on super suddenly too, about a year and a half ago, and now I panic just thinking about having to fly, even if it's months away. It's just so sickeningly unnatural to voluntarily walk onto a plane, because I legitimately think I'm going to die. HOWEVER I got a prescription for Xanax to take only when I fly, and it has just short of completely changed my life. Highly recommend talking to a doctor if you're as scared as I am.

Less seriously, open water creeps me out to no end. I would never be comfortable on a cruise.

A little bit of claustrophobia too. I hate sitting on the inside of a booth, or in the middle seat of a car. yikes :( doesn't help with flying lol.

I think I just have mad anxiety.

Deep water...I don't know if it has a technical term but if I can't see to the bottom, I won't go in. Swimming pools are fine though. As much as I love how beautiful oceans are I just won't go any farther than waste deep. And unless it like a huge cruise ship, I won't get on a boat in the ocean/resevoir either.

BATS. I've always been afraid they're going to get in my hair. All other members of the animal and insect kingdom, much love, but I don't care how much bats do for the environment and all that crap, they're GROSS.

I am afraid of bugs, insects, and most reptiles. I have recurring dreams of being eaten alive by bugs. I also really don't like feeling restrained. I'm frightened to death of drowning or suffocating.

I also don't like the tub faucet!

And the line in bold made me LOL. :D

I have an on and off fear of dying. I really, really, really don't like the idea of not existing anymore. What's the over/under before xfrodobagginsx pops in this thread to tell my how I can avoid this fear...

Spiders are terrifying. I just imagine them carrying tiny knives or something...

Heights, but especially tall buildings, bridges, and things like that.

Clowns. IT has scarred me for life.

Blood... There's something about the smell.

Haunted houses because of the blood mostly.

Claustrophobia, especially crowded elevators.

Airplanes/flying. But, I have a superstition about them. If I step on with my left foot first, instead of the right, it makes me feel better. And then I sleep on the plane...

I have a lot of fears and sometimes I worry they're really irrational...

This:

.. made me think of this:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co...be-afraid.html

:D

I have only three specific phobias. And when I say phobia I mean it. I can get a panic attack from these things sometimes...
-Heights. I can't even climb a tall later without getting hives. Other than being in an airplane (which for some reason I've never had a problem with) I can't get off of the ground without having issues. I don't even like being near large windows in tall buildings.
-Roaches, but specifically flying cockroaches. I get creeped out by any roach, but the flying ones scare me to a phobic level. I cannot handle those.
-Deep water. Especially open water. *shudder*

Roaches, annnnd plugging in appliances..yep its REALLY hard for me to plug in anything besides my hairdryer, curling iron or straightener...its SO weird and it came on suddenly too

Yes, that is precisely how I feel. I felt so much better about that thought when I read that post for the first time, haha.

I'm afraid of irons! I used to ALWAYS burn myself on them. I usually throw clothes in the dryer for a few minutes if they're wrinkled. And I've been known to use my hair straightener a few times for a quick solution to a small wrinkle problem...

:o:D

Wow, it seems like the things I love and find fascinating, people are afraid of lol. I love fruit bats. I think they're adorable, and very friendly. Oh, and I've had a few Madagascar hissing cockroaches as pets before, too. They're really friendly.

Come sit beside me and we can be afraid of crap together.

Mice, rats, dead things (people included) and airplanes. I have to be on enough tranquilizers to take down an elephant to even get me inside the airport let alone on a plane and in the air. Ditto for mortuaries.

Sounds splendid!

You bring the drain plugs, I'll bring the Downy Wrinkle Releaser

Same here, except I hate ships no matter how big they are.

Small planes. I used to love flying in them with my dad but then he was killed in a plane crash.

I'll fly in big ones but never again in small and never again for pleasure.

Honey and syrup.

So gooey and so sticky. It freaks me out. When I was younger (elementary school), I got a little bit of syrup in my hair one day. I couldn't get it out and I got the sticky mess all over my cheek. For the rest of the day, all I could smell was sugary sweet syrup. To this day, I can't be at the same table with someone who uses syrup and honey. I was at a restaurant with friends and one of the desserts came with a pot a honey to dip the pastries in. I watched as my friends dipped in their pastries and the gooey mess got on their hands and the table. I couldn't take it. I literally bolted from the table with my heart beating out of my chest. My husband has to keep our maple syrup and honey way in the back of the pantry because just looking at it makes me a little faint. I eat my pancakes, waffles and French toast plain and actually prefer it that way. And I won't sit at the breakfast table with my husband while he eats pancakes because he loves to dump a ton of maple syrup on them. I have this fear that he'll accidentally bump his plate and that sticky mess will end up all over me. Oh, the horror....

:( I'm so saddened by this. My heart dropped. God bless.

I am not a fan of planes but tolerate them because I like to travel internationally and large distances nationally.

I'm terrified of large bodies of water. I see other GCers share my fear. I will go to a pool but the deep pools make me lose my breath. I went to Dunn's River Falls and almost had a panic attack. Those who have been there know how Dunn's River Falls can be for some who don't like bodies of water beyond swimming pools. It empties into the sea. I tried to enjoy it but eventually got out of the water and just took photos of my significant other as he climbed the waterfall. I will never forgive him for taking me to Dunn's River Falls. LOL.

I could go on and on about large bodies of water. Stuff that happened when I was a kid. I'll stop there.

I advise you to never ever ever watch 9 1/2 Weeks. LOL

I believe I am claustrphic. I had a full MRI yesterday and I thought I was going to die. I will never get another MRI again unless they knock me out.

My biggest phobia is FIRE ANTS. Those horrible ants always know when I am in the yard and go in full fledge attack. Fire ants are so common in Texas and they're big.

I never thought about it this way, but that's exactly how I feel. My fear of heights is bad. I went to the Florida-Alabama game at Tuscaloosa several years ago and, of course, they put the Florida fans at the top of the stadium. I had to mentally talk and calm myself down.

I also have a horrible phobia about snakes. I hate them.

I'm kind of this way, too. But it wouldn't be a phobia for me because I don't think about it that much. But, when I do think about it, my fear is the question of what am I gonna see? I believe in a Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons. Although, I believe I'm going to Heaven,:p it's just still scary knowing I'm going to have to stand in front of God, eventually. When I think about it, that kind of scares me.

Snakes. It's paralyzing, I physically react very strongly, even if it's just on TV or in a movie. I've mentioned this before, but any fraternity with snake related symbolism was automatically out for me.

I also have a fear of drains and faucets, but this is mostly related to the fear that snakes will come out of them. And this is something I've been afraid of for long before Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets lol.

All of this stems back to a very vivid dream I had in second grade where my father brought a snake home from work and it jumped out of it's cage, bit my toe and tunneled through our living room floor. No, I didn't go into that room for a month.

ROACHES. i cannot stand them. they scare the bejezuz out of me. especially the flying ones. for whatever reason, theyre really common in tx, thank god i havent seen one since i came out to school in philly. every time i see one, even if its in a movie i feel like im going to faint. ugh.

Throwing up or being near someone who throws up.
I know no one likes to get sick, but I have panic attacks if I think that I might be sick or if my kids or someone near me seems sick.

Mine are mellowing with age some.

First is spiders: I used to be so terrified that I was paralyzed by them. That had to change when I became a single mom. I have to be able to protect my babies (even as teenagers) from them, so I am able to kill them now. I still freak out inside though.

Bats: I didn't know this was true until there was one in my bedroom when I was doing an internship way back in 1987. Freaked the hell out of me. I didn't really have a fear before then.

Heights/bridges: These go together. I'm ok if I'm high up and sitting somewhere stable, far from windows. When I went to the top of the Sears Tower (don't care what it is called now, it is the Sears Tower to me), I had to kneel to be by the windows and look out. That's crazy because what's a foot or two lower when kneeling compared to high up you are? I can look OUT, but I can't look down, if that makes sense. I'm ok on a ladder. I would not be ok on a roof. Bridges absolutely terrify me, especially if I have to be the one doing the driving while going over them. I had to drive over the Mackinac Bridge once and it was the scariest thing ever. I had to stay on the inner most lane. If someone else is driving, I just close my eyes. One bridge near my house, which I have to use several times a year isn't that high, but it is still scary to me. Thank goodness it isn't too long. It's MUCH worse when the bridge is a gate and not concrete too.

ETA: As a child, I was terrified of fire. That's totally gone now, but when I was little, even an insurance commercial on TV or the witch setting the scarecrow on fire during the Wizard of Oz sent me into an uncontrollable panic. My brother and parents used to have to get me out of the room or distract me if fires were on TV.

I also used to be afraid of geese because I was feeding some when I was 2 1/2 and when I ran out of bread, they kept trying to get more, trying to get into my pockets, etc. I shouldn't remember anything from that age, but I remember that.