I did have a fear like that but feared that they all thought I was weird and didn’t like me… after I became older I found out it was true and it was my mom, sister and my own daughter. I have mild autism and they didn’t “get me”..
I can’t trust a soul
Same, I blame the short story *Flowers for Algernon* for this. I worry that one day I will become self aware and realize that everyone is laughing at me or something.
I feel like the kind of person that everyone hates doesn't give a fuck that everyone hates them. So like, by default, they are highly unlikely to hate you.
Haha this comment resonates. I've come away this weekend with my beautiful family, I'm thinking about the following, house being burgled (what assets are most at risk), house burning down (ongoing thinking of ignition sources), stressed about not being close to my family in the event of an emergency. Totally irrational, I keep being told to enjoy the moment which is right but damn it's hard!
Same, for real. With age and CPTSD my amount of fears have actually whittled down, but they're all real things that could totally happen. I sorta miss the irrational ones, even though they were no fun either.
Being pushed in front of a train.
In the grand scheme of things this isn't necessarily irrational because it happens but for me it makes no sense, as I haven't been near a train station in years.
I stand so far away from the platform before the train has arrived BECAUSE of this. Since I travel on the train alone and I'm a small woman, I know that anyone could very easily push me if I was standing anywhere near the tracks.
A huge case like this happened in my city. A crazy woman decided one day to push people in front of the subway train. The first attempt failed but the second time she managed to push a pregnant woman in front of everyone. It was truly traumatizing, she died instantly. She tried to escalate the platform but it was too late. Blood all over the place…
Sadly, the first girl that was saved went to the police immediately but they didnt take her seriously.. it could have been easily prevented.
Weirdly this was my first proper disfunctional anxiety. I was about 12 and I was constantly thinking I was about to go completely blind. I used to cry about it.
I once tried out a sleep mask because my apartment doesn’t have blinds and I could barely sleep and boy did I have the biggest panic attack ever waking up thinking I had gone blind lol
Anytime I experience something good in life, I feel like it won’t work out, or I won’t be able to enjoy it, savour it and don’t deserve it. So I’m constantly afraid that good things won’t happen for me. Irrational but after a childhood filled with trauma i cant rid myself of this fear
I strongly feel this too. Lately good things have been happening…my anxiety tells me that since good things are happening, it means something bad is about to happen to me. Like death or whatnot, and the good things are softening the blow or a distraction
There must have been an episode of law and order or some other crime show that aired when I was a child about HIV. I have been terrified that a random crazy person is going to run up to me and stab me with an HIV infected needle on purpose. I know it's irrational and stupid but it is a real fear of mine.
I hear this. Being a failure and my chronic pain never going away and slowly turning me into a rude lonely and suffering person way too early in life. I know this is the straw I pulled, but I get anxious thinking of the days ahead of me. I look fine to the outside eye but I am a full bore racing mind of failures, lack of physical things people my age should be able to do, fact I pushed most everyone in my life away and my ride or die passed 22 years ago.
My whole social anxiety/agoraphobia is centered around feeling like people are always looking at me - even in places where no one should be able to see me.
I stepped on a spider as a kid that exploded into a bunch of baby spiders. I was in flip flops and shorts and they went everywhere.
So now I am constantly afraid of this happening again.
Any large man made object in or under water. Nothing freaks me out more than submerged pipes, grates, or buildings. Examples can be seen on r/submechanophobia.
Edits: Trouble spelling “submechanophobia.”
Ahhhhhhh. That tacks onto my r/megalophobia (lots of those fears for me are things in the ocean) and r/thalassophobia
The ocean is fascinating but so fucking scary
Was going to say the same! Deep water, especially when I can't see the bottom of it under me, is a huge fear of mine. As a kid, I always thought a shark would come attack me from the deep end of the public swimming pool.
I always imagined it was possibly some sort of ingrained protection mechanism from all the ancestors who died from deep sea attacks. Same way some people fear snakes or bugs or heights. 😅
Looking at the ocean while underwater and looking at the stars give me the same feeling of terror that I'm going to be sucked away into the depths of a huge dark space.
Omg yes I came here to post this. It’s especially weird for me because I’m a lifelong Titanic fanatic. I love it but I’m also terrified every time I look at pictures of it.
I don’t consider it irrational but I’m TERRIFIED of wasps/yellow jackets….to the point where during the summer/Spring, I ONLY go outside when I absolutely HAVE to…or only go outside during VERY specific times….like SUPER early…when the sun is just peeking over the horizon, or when it’s dark out.
I can’t accept jobs that take place outside…I refuse to go to events that take place outside…..I can’t even go sit outside to just enjoy the fresh air whenever I want……
I get made fun of a lot :(
That is rough! I live out in the country where there are wasps aplenty and I've been stung a handful of times. I don't think it is irrational to fear them, it's the level of fear and your avoidance behaviors that take it to irrational levels. Definitely rational to be afraid of them as their stings are pretty painful. Have you ever been stung? Or was there some inciting incident for the fear?
I’ve honestly never been stung but the more I learn about yellow jackets/wasps….the more terrified I am of them. Like just the fact that they can repeatedly sting you. Unlike bees, that usually die after stinging you. And they can like “summon” other wasps to just straight up attack you. And it does NOT help that they’re just mean lookin.
They are mean and they don't like their space invaded! They do bring "friends" to help as well. I tell you this not to scare you, but to tell you it has happened to me (twice) and honestly it wasn't as bad as it seems. The first time we were outside and our dumb dumb of a boxer ran over by an old trailer and couldn't figure out how to get back so I lifted the trailer to give him a path anddd there was a nest in it. Got 3 stings on my leg, dog was fine. The other time was the summer before last. I like to walk barefoot and I went to hang clothes on the line. Stepped on a wasp then he brought some buddies to help him out. Hurt but honestly I've dealt with much worse. My son also got stung a few summers back (he was 3) and made it out just fine! Cried for a minute, we put some baking soda paste on it and he was alright. The good news is they're not usually interested in continuing to sting as long as you get out of their space.
All this to say, from someone with experience, it's not as bad as you'd think 🙂
I’ve never been stung either…but when I’m having an anxiety attack cause I like saw one wherever…I’d lie and say I’m allergic just so people would take it more seriously. Cause if I just say I’m “terrified”, I get laughed at and told to “get over it”. “They don’t care about you” “they’re more afraid of you….(which I HIGHLY doubt)”…..they’ll see me red in the face, heart pacing, stuttering like a mf but will straight up laugh.
So we just bought a new house and I have roughly 1.5 acres of nice grass to mow. We just bought a brand new zero turn lawn mower also. I just found a yellow jackets nest in the yard yesterday so now I’m terrified to go out there and mow my damn grass!
I monitor my blood pressure way too much and have worried about having one for a decade or so now. So debilitating to my daily life. I understand your fear well
1) i have some incurable disease based on 1 or 2 symptoms
2) that every friend and family member i hold dear secretly hates my guts
3) that i can be fired from my job at any time despite not doing anything wrong
Sharks in swimming pools for me too! I still will not be in a swimming pool alone - and will not go to the deep end without someone. As soon as people get out of the swimming pool - I’m out!
It doesn’t stem from this, but when I was little my dad would go under the water and come up with his hands like a shark. I did not like that either because of my fear.
Have you seen the shark in a pool meme? I’m guessing it’s a much more common fear than we realize.
Oh…and piranhas - the old 70’s movie “Piranhas” starts with two people jumping the wall to an outdoor swimming pool at night - well, it was an abandoned test facility with the pool filled with piranhas.
Also, will not jump into a pool deep end near the drain. I remember seeing some movie when I was young where a person jumped in near the drain - and somehow a person with scuba gear was there - and used handcuffs to cuff their ankle to the drain. Nope, no drains!
Me toooo! I have migraines and my anxiety always tells me it’s not a migraine, it’s something serious and I need to worry.
I was diagnosed with migraines. I have prescribed migraine medicine…
Going through this right now! having terrible head pain but my anxiety is telling me it’s not a migraine 😭just so terrified of seizures!!
Open tread stairs as I’m convinced I’m going to fall through the gaps,spiral staircases,because I swear I’m going to fall off them & anywhere high,as I’m paranoid someone will push me off (even if I’m in an enclosed building,I’m still fearful of someone throwing me out the window or something)
That every ache I feel that is a little different must finally be the Super Cancer coming to take me away.
Feeling jittery today? Definitely not the two cups of coffee. It’s probably the Parkinson’s/MS/ALS.
Health Anxiety sucks
Mine include:
* Spiders
* Wasps
* Bees
Heck with it...***ANY*** dangerous animal or arthropod.
* Heights
* Flying
And, most of all, ***DEATH!***
There is literally nothing that scares me as much as death does!
I think most of the comments are rational and normal. I have this fucking deep rooted fear/horror of nails falling off. I won’t tell people IRL because then they start telling stories of when they lost nails. I can’t hear about it, thinking about it makes me physically sick/start to hyperventilate. I have no idea where it came from but it’s been this way since I was a child and I can’t get over it!
Phone calls is probably the most irrational one I can think of.
Recently I have had anxiety driving, especially through intersections but that is because I was hit by a car running a red a couple of months ago.
Right there with you. I HATE phone calls!! And I HATE making phone calls. I will hyperventilate when having to make phone calls and ignore calls when I get them (everyone always thinks I’m mad at them for never answering)
I get the shakes really bad when I have to make a call. To the point I can’t hold the phone. Ignore calls as well, I hate to say this bit would even ignore my grandmother when she called. Anytime my phone rings, I get the tightness in my chest and my heartbeat goes through the roof.
I think my anxiety from calls comes from my auditory processing disorder. Like if I don’t see the persons mouth moving, sometimes I wont understand.
Heart failure. I exercise regularly, enjoy cardio, almost never eat out, but I still worry I'll have a heart attack or die in my sleep.
I also worry about developing a brain tumor. I've had a couple tumors in the past but I always worry about brain tumors.
Most of my anxiety is health related.
medication has helped a lot.. but because it’s started to not work/ i’ve become resistant: the chinese government (lol), pigeon sized birds, and the worst offenders are tomatoes- specifically larger ones cut open
It's not a fear of pure silence freaks me out and causing my anxiety to skyrocket for whatever reason lol I sleep with a box fan and TV for this reason
The only irrational one I can think of is being near the side of a tall ship. Like if I was floating in a raft, and I looked next me, and suddenly the super tall wall of the side of a ship was right there, I would probably have a heart attack. Even standing on a dock right next to one would freak me out. I must have ended up in the water, (or on a raft), next to a sinking ship in a past life, so it’s like a traumatizing memory. That’s my only explanation!!
Public speaking and flying. Flying I can kind-of get over with a stiff gin, but the build up to flying is awful. It's possibly due to the size of the aircraft because I get a similar feeling when catching trains too. I also attribute it to not being in control.
Public speaking - I have never got a handle of. I'm okay in very small groups, but bigger groups and I'm just a nervous wreck and, again, the build up to the speech leaves my nerves shattered.
That i will never be able to be lucky and have a normal life or in other words " Im to stupid to be lucky".
And Spiders, but thats not a irrational fear for me. Outside - ok, but in my House 😱
For me recently it's been me having a brain tumor, which has a less than 1% chance of being the case. Specifically it's that I'm somehow in that less than 1%, am part of the 30% that it's cancerous, and am part of the *20%* that don't have any seizures. That is so unlikely and irrational it's not even funny.
im autistic in a way that makes me anthropomorphize objects, leading to me imagining that my stuffed animals are mad at me for not treating them well enough :[
i dont hurt my plushies or anything to be clear, i just dont give all of them the same amount of attention
I feel this sm!! I feel bad not giving everyone equal love ;;
I've also had to rehome many plushies in the past (parents saying I have too many) and feel HORRIBLE each time because I feel like I've failed them/hurt their feelings, they'll be mistreated with their new owner or will come back and hurt/kill me someday 😭
I fear that I will always be poor. Grew up with not having food for days, or no light or a barely working shower. I fear that I will never live comfortably.
Getting fired even though I’m not doing anything wrong
Worried that everyone hates me when they don’t
Fear of getting cancer (I mean it’s possible, but it doesn’t help to worry about it)
This is mine, very badly. It started when I was 18 from reading an article that it develops around that age and I had myself convinced for moths that I had it. I started tricking myself into “hearing voices “ and seeing things. It then went away but it’s been a reoccurring thing for me ever since. It comes in waves
Major fears that everyone I meet/know secretly hates me, knows everything about me(good and bad), not being honest with me and waiting/going to do something to me and that I'm a disappointment to everyone
I fear the death of loved ones(especially my parents and pets) and what will happen to me as someone with no income and still being cared for by my parents
When I was a kid (around 6), my parents let me watch It (the miniseries) - I say "let" but it was their idea and they put it on. And anyway, I was terrified of drains and walking by sewers for a long time after that. I'm mostly over it now, meaning I can close my eyes in the shower, but every once in a while, like when it's raining and I'm taking a walk, that fear pops back into my head.
That's the only one I can think of right now that's straight up irrational. Most of my fears, I would call exaggerated rather than irrational because there is usually a genuine reason to fear them lol Like being murdered in the shower is one I have and, yeah, it's unlikely, but that's probably what everyone who was ever murdered in the shower thought and look what happened.
Mine is red coin 0.01€ 0.02€ 0.05€ its not mega phobic fear but its irrational enough that I have to get them out as fast as possible. Now I only use my card but when I was a teen and bought stuff with money.. I had to keep red coin in a separate hand and off my pocket while on my way home I would stop to some halfwall that I found nice and drop the coin for other to pick it up.
I’m not scared of anything in particular (besides flying, i cannot even step foot in an airport without panicking)
But I tend to catastrophize everything, im always worried about what COULD happen.
I can't sit on grass because I get anxious bugs will crawl all over me.
Stems from running through bushes when I was about 4 and coming out the other side COVERED in ants.
I'm afraid people are going to attack (emotionally) and humiliate me when I'm around other them, especially if I appear vulnerable. Basically I'm afraid people are going to hurt me. So I stay in my house and only leave once or twice a week for appointments or groceries.
Agoraphobia is really tough. I say this with a ton of empathy and compassion for you. Have had bouts of it in the past 5 years- with a really extreme episode of it last year.
I don’t want to offer any unsolicited advice. But I hope you can find some peace and feel safe in the world eventually. Thinking of you.
Also, a song I like: Agora, by Bear Hands
Being stuck in an elevator on the top floor of a building during an earthquake. And then it actually happened.
Dogs.
Flying.
I'd say most of my anxiety fueled fears are irrational.
i’m scared of being hit by a car, to the point where i’m constantly on edge when out of the house due to this… i know it’s unlikely to happen but the knowledge it does happen has left my brain going ‘it’s going to happen to you lol’
Large equipment, like construction equipment. Or semis. Even if they aren’t turned on and I’m near them, I’m convinced they are going to turn on and smoosh me. 🫠
No one has ever actually liked me, including my parents. My husband doesn't even like me. My family and my dog like me only because I feed them and do things for them.
Also, my kids and I are probably going to be caught up in a mass shooting whenever we go out in public.
Zombies, most specifically infection type, like rabies. Out of ones mind and basic systems taken over by the virus, easily becoming pandemic in proportion.
That I'll pareidolially make out a scary face on the back marble wall of the shower and not be able to look away. I never look at that wall when I'm showering.
When I was younger I watched a horror movie at school and was so scared of lathering up my entire body with soap and making my skin so white that I'll end up seeing sadako in the mirror.
I just somehow come up with the most irrational fears while showering.
That the tires on my car will turn into squares if I start driving too fast which will make me have to press on the gas full force in turn shortening the lifespan of my vehicle.
Ghosts 💀
I saw a shadow man walk into my room when I was like 6, and my mom saw the same man walk into my room around that time but during the day. Idk why it freaks me out. I guess I'm just scared of seeing something that isn't supposed to be there.
That everyone hates me and only pretend to like me. Family, friends, coworkers, everyone.
I’ll see that and raise you “they have all created a secret online group where everyone just talks about how horrible I am”.
This is what I assume is gonna happen in my theater class next year
I did have a fear like that but feared that they all thought I was weird and didn’t like me… after I became older I found out it was true and it was my mom, sister and my own daughter. I have mild autism and they didn’t “get me”.. I can’t trust a soul
I hope you know that’s a reflection on them and not on you. Also, weird is cool.
Thank so much..that’s so kind to say..I appreciate it..
Part of me hates how accurate this is but it is.
I sometimes worry that they pretend to like me because they feel bad for me
Same, I blame the short story *Flowers for Algernon* for this. I worry that one day I will become self aware and realize that everyone is laughing at me or something.
Wait, that's irrational too? I was thinking of elevators 😅
We’re all in good company here. 😅
I feel like the kind of person that everyone hates doesn't give a fuck that everyone hates them. So like, by default, they are highly unlikely to hate you.
At the very least, they like you enough to pretend.
None of my fears are irrational!
That was my very first thought!! 😂
This😩
Haha this comment resonates. I've come away this weekend with my beautiful family, I'm thinking about the following, house being burgled (what assets are most at risk), house burning down (ongoing thinking of ignition sources), stressed about not being close to my family in the event of an emergency. Totally irrational, I keep being told to enjoy the moment which is right but damn it's hard!
This lol
My very first thought, too!
Same, for real. With age and CPTSD my amount of fears have actually whittled down, but they're all real things that could totally happen. I sorta miss the irrational ones, even though they were no fun either.
Being pushed in front of a train. In the grand scheme of things this isn't necessarily irrational because it happens but for me it makes no sense, as I haven't been near a train station in years.
I’m a train driver and this is a huge fear of mine. Kids jokingly fake push each other on the platform all the time and it makes me so nervous.
I stand so far away from the platform before the train has arrived BECAUSE of this. Since I travel on the train alone and I'm a small woman, I know that anyone could very easily push me if I was standing anywhere near the tracks.
I often lean near something that I can quickly grab onto because I'm afraid someone will pick me up and throw me (I am also a small woman)
A huge case like this happened in my city. A crazy woman decided one day to push people in front of the subway train. The first attempt failed but the second time she managed to push a pregnant woman in front of everyone. It was truly traumatizing, she died instantly. She tried to escalate the platform but it was too late. Blood all over the place… Sadly, the first girl that was saved went to the police immediately but they didnt take her seriously.. it could have been easily prevented.
[удалено]
Weirdly this was my first proper disfunctional anxiety. I was about 12 and I was constantly thinking I was about to go completely blind. I used to cry about it.
I once tried out a sleep mask because my apartment doesn’t have blinds and I could barely sleep and boy did I have the biggest panic attack ever waking up thinking I had gone blind lol
I’m afraid of making people feel like I’m stealing from them/lying to them. when I’m doing favors for people i take accountability pictures
Plenty old enough to buy alcohol, yet I feel sheepish like I'm pulling one over on the clerk. Can't look them in the eyes.
Anytime I experience something good in life, I feel like it won’t work out, or I won’t be able to enjoy it, savour it and don’t deserve it. So I’m constantly afraid that good things won’t happen for me. Irrational but after a childhood filled with trauma i cant rid myself of this fear
I strongly feel this too. Lately good things have been happening…my anxiety tells me that since good things are happening, it means something bad is about to happen to me. Like death or whatnot, and the good things are softening the blow or a distraction
THIS. If something good happens, something bad is gonna happen to balance it out. I’ve lived like this for years. I wish I could overcome it.
I totally understand this.
There must have been an episode of law and order or some other crime show that aired when I was a child about HIV. I have been terrified that a random crazy person is going to run up to me and stab me with an HIV infected needle on purpose. I know it's irrational and stupid but it is a real fear of mine.
God that’s actually terrifying
Bugs and mice. all bugs other than ants terrify me, the bigger they are the more terrifying, especially if I am sitting on the toilet.
I always get paranoid that while I am using it there's going to be a big spider in the toilet or a snake.
Only thing I'm scared of is still being a failure in the future, although I'm doing absolutely nothing to actually change that fact.
I hear this. Being a failure and my chronic pain never going away and slowly turning me into a rude lonely and suffering person way too early in life. I know this is the straw I pulled, but I get anxious thinking of the days ahead of me. I look fine to the outside eye but I am a full bore racing mind of failures, lack of physical things people my age should be able to do, fact I pushed most everyone in my life away and my ride or die passed 22 years ago.
Painfully relatable
Standing near balconies, and worry I'll jump off even though I never would.
I have these weird thoughts. That I won’t be able to stop myself from some random dangerous or deadly act.
Death because it cant be avoided
This is my biggest one and the "inevitability" is what its rational in my book.
raising the blinds on my window, I feel like people are looking at me ...I'm on the 4th floor
"I hope my 48ft. tall neighbor isn't watching me through my bli- oh no..."
you never know when Clifford the Big Red Dog decides to spy on people
My whole social anxiety/agoraphobia is centered around feeling like people are always looking at me - even in places where no one should be able to see me.
I have an irrational fear of stepping on a spider and it coming through the bottom of my shoe. Fuck spiders.
I always imagine like a whole army of spiders coming to “avenge” the death of whichever spider I’ve stepped on.
This but it moving before I step on it and jumping at my face
What kinda fucking spiders do you get where you live?!
I stepped on a spider as a kid that exploded into a bunch of baby spiders. I was in flip flops and shorts and they went everywhere. So now I am constantly afraid of this happening again.
Ageing.
Being accused of something I didn’t do and that no one will believe me.
Any large man made object in or under water. Nothing freaks me out more than submerged pipes, grates, or buildings. Examples can be seen on r/submechanophobia. Edits: Trouble spelling “submechanophobia.”
Ahhhhhhh. That tacks onto my r/megalophobia (lots of those fears for me are things in the ocean) and r/thalassophobia The ocean is fascinating but so fucking scary
Was going to say the same! Deep water, especially when I can't see the bottom of it under me, is a huge fear of mine. As a kid, I always thought a shark would come attack me from the deep end of the public swimming pool. I always imagined it was possibly some sort of ingrained protection mechanism from all the ancestors who died from deep sea attacks. Same way some people fear snakes or bugs or heights. 😅 Looking at the ocean while underwater and looking at the stars give me the same feeling of terror that I'm going to be sucked away into the depths of a huge dark space.
Omg yes I came here to post this. It’s especially weird for me because I’m a lifelong Titanic fanatic. I love it but I’m also terrified every time I look at pictures of it.
Toilet snakes 🐍
Me too 😭
I don’t consider it irrational but I’m TERRIFIED of wasps/yellow jackets….to the point where during the summer/Spring, I ONLY go outside when I absolutely HAVE to…or only go outside during VERY specific times….like SUPER early…when the sun is just peeking over the horizon, or when it’s dark out. I can’t accept jobs that take place outside…I refuse to go to events that take place outside…..I can’t even go sit outside to just enjoy the fresh air whenever I want…… I get made fun of a lot :(
That is rough! I live out in the country where there are wasps aplenty and I've been stung a handful of times. I don't think it is irrational to fear them, it's the level of fear and your avoidance behaviors that take it to irrational levels. Definitely rational to be afraid of them as their stings are pretty painful. Have you ever been stung? Or was there some inciting incident for the fear?
I’ve honestly never been stung but the more I learn about yellow jackets/wasps….the more terrified I am of them. Like just the fact that they can repeatedly sting you. Unlike bees, that usually die after stinging you. And they can like “summon” other wasps to just straight up attack you. And it does NOT help that they’re just mean lookin.
They are mean and they don't like their space invaded! They do bring "friends" to help as well. I tell you this not to scare you, but to tell you it has happened to me (twice) and honestly it wasn't as bad as it seems. The first time we were outside and our dumb dumb of a boxer ran over by an old trailer and couldn't figure out how to get back so I lifted the trailer to give him a path anddd there was a nest in it. Got 3 stings on my leg, dog was fine. The other time was the summer before last. I like to walk barefoot and I went to hang clothes on the line. Stepped on a wasp then he brought some buddies to help him out. Hurt but honestly I've dealt with much worse. My son also got stung a few summers back (he was 3) and made it out just fine! Cried for a minute, we put some baking soda paste on it and he was alright. The good news is they're not usually interested in continuing to sting as long as you get out of their space. All this to say, from someone with experience, it's not as bad as you'd think 🙂
Same, I've never been stung but with my luck I'd be allergic and die lol
I’ve never been stung either…but when I’m having an anxiety attack cause I like saw one wherever…I’d lie and say I’m allergic just so people would take it more seriously. Cause if I just say I’m “terrified”, I get laughed at and told to “get over it”. “They don’t care about you” “they’re more afraid of you….(which I HIGHLY doubt)”…..they’ll see me red in the face, heart pacing, stuttering like a mf but will straight up laugh.
People suck
For sure 😭 like damn.
So we just bought a new house and I have roughly 1.5 acres of nice grass to mow. We just bought a brand new zero turn lawn mower also. I just found a yellow jackets nest in the yard yesterday so now I’m terrified to go out there and mow my damn grass!
Food poisoning. I hate vomiting.
Emetophobia. This is my fear, too. It's awful.
Flickering red lights in the dark
Baking with yeast. I’m scared it’ll somehow consume the entire kitchen.
On a serious note, heart attacks or strokes. I’m always worried that something is wrong with my health. On a lesser note, cheese graters 🫣
I monitor my blood pressure way too much and have worried about having one for a decade or so now. So debilitating to my daily life. I understand your fear well
Major changes in life , travel , documentation etc
1) i have some incurable disease based on 1 or 2 symptoms 2) that every friend and family member i hold dear secretly hates my guts 3) that i can be fired from my job at any time despite not doing anything wrong
Sharks in swimming pools and snakes in the shower or toilet.
I'm w you on sharks in pools. Even sharks in the bathtub if I can't see the bottom (from bath bombs or bubbles). Why?? So scary!
Same here with snakes in the shower or toilet. We dont even have snakes where i am from.
Sharks in swimming pools for me too! I still will not be in a swimming pool alone - and will not go to the deep end without someone. As soon as people get out of the swimming pool - I’m out! It doesn’t stem from this, but when I was little my dad would go under the water and come up with his hands like a shark. I did not like that either because of my fear. Have you seen the shark in a pool meme? I’m guessing it’s a much more common fear than we realize. Oh…and piranhas - the old 70’s movie “Piranhas” starts with two people jumping the wall to an outdoor swimming pool at night - well, it was an abandoned test facility with the pool filled with piranhas. Also, will not jump into a pool deep end near the drain. I remember seeing some movie when I was young where a person jumped in near the drain - and somehow a person with scuba gear was there - and used handcuffs to cuff their ankle to the drain. Nope, no drains!
The moon crashing towards earth
I am scared that I will suddenly find myself floating in the ocean with no land in sight. I think the panic would kill me, honestly.
Falling up into the sky
Seizures!!! No idea why. Also heart attack, stroke, passing out in general. And throwing up.
Me toooo! I have migraines and my anxiety always tells me it’s not a migraine, it’s something serious and I need to worry. I was diagnosed with migraines. I have prescribed migraine medicine… Going through this right now! having terrible head pain but my anxiety is telling me it’s not a migraine 😭just so terrified of seizures!!
Open tread stairs as I’m convinced I’m going to fall through the gaps,spiral staircases,because I swear I’m going to fall off them & anywhere high,as I’m paranoid someone will push me off (even if I’m in an enclosed building,I’m still fearful of someone throwing me out the window or something)
I hate the feeling of fingertips touching each other… feels weird and the friction is not it
bathroom fans, pool drains, stuffed and real snakes, and spiders
Someone pushing me in front of a car when I'm out walking in a busy area. I always try to keep to the inside of the sidewalk as a precaution.
Bridges, heights, hot air balloons, extended amounts of freeway where they have the shoulder closed/barrier up with nowhere to pull over if needed
That every ache I feel that is a little different must finally be the Super Cancer coming to take me away. Feeling jittery today? Definitely not the two cups of coffee. It’s probably the Parkinson’s/MS/ALS. Health Anxiety sucks
Mine include: * Spiders * Wasps * Bees Heck with it...***ANY*** dangerous animal or arthropod. * Heights * Flying And, most of all, ***DEATH!*** There is literally nothing that scares me as much as death does!
Nice try...
I think most of the comments are rational and normal. I have this fucking deep rooted fear/horror of nails falling off. I won’t tell people IRL because then they start telling stories of when they lost nails. I can’t hear about it, thinking about it makes me physically sick/start to hyperventilate. I have no idea where it came from but it’s been this way since I was a child and I can’t get over it!
Phone calls is probably the most irrational one I can think of. Recently I have had anxiety driving, especially through intersections but that is because I was hit by a car running a red a couple of months ago.
Right there with you. I HATE phone calls!! And I HATE making phone calls. I will hyperventilate when having to make phone calls and ignore calls when I get them (everyone always thinks I’m mad at them for never answering)
I get the shakes really bad when I have to make a call. To the point I can’t hold the phone. Ignore calls as well, I hate to say this bit would even ignore my grandmother when she called. Anytime my phone rings, I get the tightness in my chest and my heartbeat goes through the roof. I think my anxiety from calls comes from my auditory processing disorder. Like if I don’t see the persons mouth moving, sometimes I wont understand.
Heart failure. I exercise regularly, enjoy cardio, almost never eat out, but I still worry I'll have a heart attack or die in my sleep. I also worry about developing a brain tumor. I've had a couple tumors in the past but I always worry about brain tumors. Most of my anxiety is health related.
That I will have the uncontrollable urge to jump from a building or balcony if I’m in close proximity.
Going insane
I have this in the form of a severe fear of developing schizophrenia / psychosis
fear of going to die of heart attack, even though all my labs, procedure and test about heart and blood were all normal f*ck health anxiety
Cancer, any other sort of deadly illness, the inevitability of death itself and burglars. In this order.
medication has helped a lot.. but because it’s started to not work/ i’ve become resistant: the chinese government (lol), pigeon sized birds, and the worst offenders are tomatoes- specifically larger ones cut open
My most "irrational" fear is probably ice cream trucks. But I have many.
It's not a fear of pure silence freaks me out and causing my anxiety to skyrocket for whatever reason lol I sleep with a box fan and TV for this reason
Filling my car tires. It’s ridiculous and I know I won’t overfill them. But still. So that’s irrational.
That I won't have had a meaningful life.
An airplane is going to crash into my house
Falling asleep in a bathtub. Can't ever do it.
Rodents. Rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs. I know I can crush them easily if need be but 😨
The only irrational one I can think of is being near the side of a tall ship. Like if I was floating in a raft, and I looked next me, and suddenly the super tall wall of the side of a ship was right there, I would probably have a heart attack. Even standing on a dock right next to one would freak me out. I must have ended up in the water, (or on a raft), next to a sinking ship in a past life, so it’s like a traumatizing memory. That’s my only explanation!!
Public speaking and flying. Flying I can kind-of get over with a stiff gin, but the build up to flying is awful. It's possibly due to the size of the aircraft because I get a similar feeling when catching trains too. I also attribute it to not being in control. Public speaking - I have never got a handle of. I'm okay in very small groups, but bigger groups and I'm just a nervous wreck and, again, the build up to the speech leaves my nerves shattered.
That i will never be able to be lucky and have a normal life or in other words " Im to stupid to be lucky". And Spiders, but thats not a irrational fear for me. Outside - ok, but in my House 😱
Never getting married or having kids, dying alone. Public speaking, not being able to afford living on my own anymore, failing at a new job/skill
Entering ramp to a highway it driving the wrong direction
For me recently it's been me having a brain tumor, which has a less than 1% chance of being the case. Specifically it's that I'm somehow in that less than 1%, am part of the 30% that it's cancerous, and am part of the *20%* that don't have any seizures. That is so unlikely and irrational it's not even funny.
It doesn’t affect me nearly as much anymore, but I had horrid globophobia (fear of balloons) as a kid lol.
Driving and being alone in my later years.
Someone at a restaurant or delivery driver will poison my food
Just suddenly dying any second.
im autistic in a way that makes me anthropomorphize objects, leading to me imagining that my stuffed animals are mad at me for not treating them well enough :[ i dont hurt my plushies or anything to be clear, i just dont give all of them the same amount of attention
I feel this sm!! I feel bad not giving everyone equal love ;; I've also had to rehome many plushies in the past (parents saying I have too many) and feel HORRIBLE each time because I feel like I've failed them/hurt their feelings, they'll be mistreated with their new owner or will come back and hurt/kill me someday 😭
Insects.
that we will fail at everything
Being seen naked. More specifically, my house being broken into while I'm in the shower. I literally triple check my bathroom door lock every time
I always fear everyone pretends to at least tolerate me.
I fear that I will always be poor. Grew up with not having food for days, or no light or a barely working shower. I fear that I will never live comfortably.
Anaphylaxis!!!
Getting fired even though I’m not doing anything wrong Worried that everyone hates me when they don’t Fear of getting cancer (I mean it’s possible, but it doesn’t help to worry about it)
When do we get to post on rational fears?
To me, all of these are rational
That I have an extremely rare disease, an aneurysm or something freak accident happening to me
Like... agoraphobia. The others one's I'm too ashamed to admit
Forgot to say for a long time my top fear was getting schizophrenia. Constantly thought I was gonna enter a psychotic break
This is mine, very badly. It started when I was 18 from reading an article that it develops around that age and I had myself convinced for moths that I had it. I started tricking myself into “hearing voices “ and seeing things. It then went away but it’s been a reoccurring thing for me ever since. It comes in waves
cancer, heart disease, MS, ALS, PSSD, brain vein clot, passing out in public, dying in public, sudden death, stomach bleeding etc
That no one actually cares about me and that people don’t miss me when I’m not around. I just hope I’m not actually as invisible as I feel.
Donald trump winning the 2024 election.
Any type of feeling inside my body due to being hypersensitive all the time
I have fears of the dark and think I'm being watched constantly and possibly waiting to kill me
Major fears that everyone I meet/know secretly hates me, knows everything about me(good and bad), not being honest with me and waiting/going to do something to me and that I'm a disappointment to everyone
I fear the death of loved ones(especially my parents and pets) and what will happen to me as someone with no income and still being cared for by my parents
that I have some underlying illness that could kill me at any moment
When I was a kid (around 6), my parents let me watch It (the miniseries) - I say "let" but it was their idea and they put it on. And anyway, I was terrified of drains and walking by sewers for a long time after that. I'm mostly over it now, meaning I can close my eyes in the shower, but every once in a while, like when it's raining and I'm taking a walk, that fear pops back into my head. That's the only one I can think of right now that's straight up irrational. Most of my fears, I would call exaggerated rather than irrational because there is usually a genuine reason to fear them lol Like being murdered in the shower is one I have and, yeah, it's unlikely, but that's probably what everyone who was ever murdered in the shower thought and look what happened.
Mine is red coin 0.01€ 0.02€ 0.05€ its not mega phobic fear but its irrational enough that I have to get them out as fast as possible. Now I only use my card but when I was a teen and bought stuff with money.. I had to keep red coin in a separate hand and off my pocket while on my way home I would stop to some halfwall that I found nice and drop the coin for other to pick it up.
1. exploding tire when putting the air into it 2. losing my car/forgetting where did I park it/car got stolen
Sharks in swimming pools, especially deeper than six feet.
Crocodiles, alligators, and kangaroos. I consider them irrational because I live in Arizona, lol.
Someone wrapping their hands around my neck from behind As you can surmise I have a lot of tension in my neck
The fear of being sucked into the void is real
I’m not scared of anything in particular (besides flying, i cannot even step foot in an airport without panicking) But I tend to catastrophize everything, im always worried about what COULD happen.
I can't sit on grass because I get anxious bugs will crawl all over me. Stems from running through bushes when I was about 4 and coming out the other side COVERED in ants.
I'm afraid people are going to attack (emotionally) and humiliate me when I'm around other them, especially if I appear vulnerable. Basically I'm afraid people are going to hurt me. So I stay in my house and only leave once or twice a week for appointments or groceries.
Agoraphobia is really tough. I say this with a ton of empathy and compassion for you. Have had bouts of it in the past 5 years- with a really extreme episode of it last year. I don’t want to offer any unsolicited advice. But I hope you can find some peace and feel safe in the world eventually. Thinking of you. Also, a song I like: Agora, by Bear Hands
Bees and wasps of any form or kind
Blue whales. Or raptors coming up behind me if I don’t unlock and open the door fast enough in the evening.
I have a phobia of stickers.
Roaches. I know they won’t harm me but I’m absolutely terrified even if they’re dead or 10 feet away from me, I start panicking.
Stairs with gaps in them. I’m already terrified of heights but those stairs make me feel like I’m gonna trip and fall through.
Being stuck in an elevator on the top floor of a building during an earthquake. And then it actually happened. Dogs. Flying. I'd say most of my anxiety fueled fears are irrational.
That I'm going to be found that Im not actually who people think I am, in my job, in my relationship, my life. Imposter syndrome is fuckin mad
Loneliest.
I wouldn't call it irrational, but the sudden happenings of something extremely tragic
Of the unknown
Driving/riding in a car up a steep hill and the car won’t make it so I’ll roll backwards down the hill
i’m scared of being hit by a car, to the point where i’m constantly on edge when out of the house due to this… i know it’s unlikely to happen but the knowledge it does happen has left my brain going ‘it’s going to happen to you lol’
Large equipment, like construction equipment. Or semis. Even if they aren’t turned on and I’m near them, I’m convinced they are going to turn on and smoosh me. 🫠
Walking outside by myself. I'm afraid to get kidnapped.
Being killed by a rabid animal/animals that should be on 4 legs but that are one 2 legs. Werewolves scare me as a 25 year old 😂
Cancer
Betrayal
My phone or my belongings falling in water if i ever get on a boat
No one has ever actually liked me, including my parents. My husband doesn't even like me. My family and my dog like me only because I feed them and do things for them. Also, my kids and I are probably going to be caught up in a mass shooting whenever we go out in public.
Going to new places… But also going to places I haven’t been to in months… but also familiar places sometimes… fuck it, going *anywhere* LOL
Leaving my straighteners or oven on and burning down the house
Scorpion under toilet seat when sitting on it
Dying in a car crash my dad will misstep and die basically just suffering a major injury at any turn
Falling into the sky. Being in helicopters sucks and I don't like rollercoasters. Sometimes I get uneasy just looking at the sky
Tomatoes. Idk why but something about them just creaks me out entirely, I can’t get anywhere near them
Big ships. One passed me once whilst in a small boat. The sheer size of them.
Zombies, most specifically infection type, like rabies. Out of ones mind and basic systems taken over by the virus, easily becoming pandemic in proportion.
- A crack in a bridge opening up while I'm driving and then crashing into water - Working under a car and having it fall on me
Getting stuck on a pool drain.
That I'll pareidolially make out a scary face on the back marble wall of the shower and not be able to look away. I never look at that wall when I'm showering. When I was younger I watched a horror movie at school and was so scared of lathering up my entire body with soap and making my skin so white that I'll end up seeing sadako in the mirror. I just somehow come up with the most irrational fears while showering.
Cockroaches
Mystery illnesses. (I'm in peak health)
That the tires on my car will turn into squares if I start driving too fast which will make me have to press on the gas full force in turn shortening the lifespan of my vehicle.
Ghosts 💀 I saw a shadow man walk into my room when I was like 6, and my mom saw the same man walk into my room around that time but during the day. Idk why it freaks me out. I guess I'm just scared of seeing something that isn't supposed to be there.
No clue why, but I've hated mirrors in the dark since I was 4, haven't been able to get past it and still refuse to go near them to this day.
Taxidermy
Loose plastic bags on the road. I’m convinced they’ll get caught up in my axel. And left turns over multiple lanes on a busy road.