I will not take baths, I will not go in pools, I will not get in a boat unless absolutely necessary.
Drowning is possibly at the very bottom of my list of ways to die. I’d rather burn.
No, I can’t swim. Not interested in learning. [/quote]
I’m in the same… boat. I can swim well enough to not die and I could probably be a good swimmer if I tried but fuck that shit, I’m not a fish.
[/quote]
Exactly. And the deeper the water, the worse. If I don’t know what’s swimming underneath me, my pulse rockets. Fuck fish.
I’ve actually largely cured myself of the paralyzing terror I used to feel upon seeing one of these vermin. Through sheer will, I can now simply and easily kill and dispose of one, but that stops a bit short of actually being able to touch one.
Drunkards: don’t fall asleep without brushing your teeth. I heard they come and crawl onto your lips at night and feast upon the leftover films of food and sugar. Yum.
I don’t have any actual phobias, but if someone asked me what I’m afraid of, it’s this shit. I’ll go swim in the ocean and whatever; I’ve probably spent way more time in the ocean than most people, but in the back of my mind I’m always imagining a fucking 20 foot shark being like 6 feet away from me.
Tall buildings: No, not being up high in one, but being on the ground surrounded by them. I believe it is called batophobia. I was recently in Chicago, and let me tell you, it was a nightmare. In order to walk around I had to have a ball cap on and a hoodie just to block my peripheral vision of the buildings. I could only see just enough to see where I was going. Obviously for me, large metropolitan type cities are out of the question for me to live in. [/quote]
I have this picture in my head of you with a baseball cap and a hoodie walking with purpose from A to B and probably several people make way for you because you look like someone you better not fuck with and not one of them has any idea what goes through your head.
This is going to sound rediculous but when I was younger I watched these movies called Lack Placid and Andaconda.
Changed my view on swimming or just generally being in bodies of water that I can’t see in. Like lake/ponds/rivers/dirty ocean water.
I live in NH and we have a bit of ponds and lakes around as well as the ocean. For a while I wouldn’t even go in the water, seriously those movies killed a couple of my childhood/teen summers…and I’m man enough to admit they still are in the back of my mind when I go in the water now.
To this day I have problems standing still or floating in lakes/ponds/rivers, and can’t stand to touch the bottom.
My grandfather served 20+ years in the navy, so naturally he enjoyed watching war movies that featured the navy. I use to watch a lot of them with him when I was a kid.
A lot of them have scenes were the ship is punctured in battle and water starts filling in, the guys in charge seal off the room with the leak to save the ship, but there’s always a few guys that get locked in.
They’re in there with the water rising and gasping for their last breath before they drown. To me that would be the absolute worst way to die.
I’m not scared of water though, just that particular scenario. I swim, go to the beach, etc.
I constantly scan for snipers and whatever and worry what would happen to crowds if some disaster struck.
It’s to the point, when I get free football tickets (I get cowboy tickets, all the time, if anyone wants them), I don’t go because I don’t want to be in the traffic/crowds.
I have a big screen TV in a garage of all places (together with a weight room and couches). I open up the garage doors, start a fire in the cast iron fire box, look at the valley and the mountains, drink a few drinks with whomever shows up, and it’s way better than being there in person.
I’ve actually largely cured myself of the paralyzing terror I used to feel upon seeing one of these vermin. Through sheer will, I can now simply and easily kill and dispose of one, but that stops a bit short of actually being able to touch one.
Drunkards: don’t fall asleep without brushing your teeth. I heard they come and crawl onto your lips at night and feast upon the leftover films of food and sugar. Yum. [/quote]
I’ve never been happier to pay Orkin than I am right now… Ugh!
Also, bats. I hate those rats with wings, hate them. Filthy little bastards.
can’t stand leeches. in survival training in the swamp when we got out of the water I started to do the “leech dance”. trying to light a cig while ripping off my clothes so I could burn the bastards to get them to let go. always wore a rubber so a little one wouldn’t get up my urethra.
[quote]rds63799 wrote:
Flying. I don’t care about how I’m statistically more likely to die in a car crash, and how safe flying is on paper.
You are encasing me in a huge metal tomb that fucking flies! Metal can’t fly. Birds yes, metal no.
“Oh but the air pressure over the wing is equal to blah blah blah”
I don’t give a shit, metal can’t fucking fly! It’s wings don’t even flap![/quote]
Have you ever actually flown?
I used to have alot of strange phobias as a kid one about elevators as the OP mentioned for me I was afraid of being stuck inside if it stopped working… Outgrew most of it with age, Someone mentioned flooding, If you truly want to recover from any phobia forever that is the way to go… cognitive exposure therapy but rather then a gradual build up its to expose yourself fully, there is an element of risk reward here…
if you take baby steps it takes longer and is sometimes prone to setbacks but if you are say afraid of heights then simply go somewhere up high that scares you senseless and stay there until the fear and sensations go away, then you will no longer suffer from an irrational fear. Avoidance cycles only help to increase anxiety and make things worst FYI, Face and recover… Its not like any of it actually places any real merit or threat and it can be silly t walk around half your life with phobias that can be cured in one swift strike. [/quote]
yeah I’ve flown a bunch of times. I refuse to let my phobia stop me from travelling.
I am no fun at all to be sat next to during the flight, especially during take off and landing. The rules for take off and landing are don’t look at me, don’t talk to me and don’t touch me.
I flew to Cuba a couple of years ago with my (now ex) girlfriend, and she made the mistake of trying to talk to me during take off. I practically screamed in the poor girl’s face.
not trying to be a dick here, but isn’t a phobia an irrational fear? Some of the stuff people are mentioning in this thread is pretty scary in a rational way…
[quote]rds63799 wrote:
not trying to be a dick here, but isn’t a phobia an irrational fear? Some of the stuff people are mentioning in this thread is pretty scary in a rational way…[/quote]
Yea, I qualified that mine isn’t actually a phobia. I do however have a phobia of being shot.
I used to have a fear of heights, then I ended up with a job pruning trees. The fear lessened the more I faced it, and one day it went away completely. I recall standing in a medium height tree, 50 ft or so, and seeing the ground beneath me had no emotional impact whatsoever; being free of the fear was a euphoric experience.
I don’t want to be afraid of anything like that ever again.
Realistically I’d say I’m irrationally fearful of sick people. Not just careful to avoid contact, but I usually make a big deal about it right in front of them… like acting like they have the Plague.
Part of this is probably due to my derision against anyone who intentionally puts themselves in social situations knowing full well they’re sick and contagious.
