Your worst fears...

[mijan]

So I've been stuck on an odd train of thought lately... phobias.  Why am I mentally stuck on phobias right now?  Well, I've been wrestling with my own lately.  Severely.  Because I'm probably going to have to face up to it again very soon, and I don't know if I can handle it.

What is it that causes a perfectly rational, normally brave, confident person, who doesn't have any normal fears (heights, guns, bombs, snakes, rats, serial killers, clowns under the bed), to turn into a shaking, crying, screaming, frantic panic over some minor thing?  Or is it just me?  I think I surprised a couple of people the other day when I expressed my own phobia.  I guess they thought nothing scared me.  So, I got to wondering, what are other people scared of?

I don't mean normal fears, or things that make you a bit uncomfortable.  You might be a bit scared of heights, and you might not want to jump off the high-dive at the local swimming pool, but you don't collapse into hysterics because you need to climb a three-step ladder, so it's not a debilitating phobia.  See what I mean? Picture Bart Simpson: "Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me. Can't sleep, clowns will kill me." Or something like that.

I've turned off ISP logging.  Feel free to post anonymously if you don't want people to know what personally scares the shit out of you, or if you want the liberating experience of "coming out of the closet" with your phobia, you can post while logged in.  I'd really like to know what scares people, and how they cope with it.  So, let the group-therapy session begin...

~P

Comments

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Damn... that last chapter of Eclipse was probably a fair bit of torment for you then. Draco's fear of the water, Harry's milder fear of needles... and then there are Draco's visions from Voldemort where I have him essentially stuck in a void where he can't see, can't breathe, and can't even tell if he has a body.

Oh, and don't rush to judgement about saying that needle-phobias don't cause true panic-attacks. That's my big phobia, and trust me, I've had panic attacks... but I've only passed out once, and that was a few minutes after the fact.

[zanai.livejournal.com]

exactly. luckily, i was to into the story to really think about it *shudder*

[mijan.livejournal.com]

LOL. *gives chocolate* Didn't mean to torment you then. But I'm glad you were into the story.

[twilekangel.livejournal.com]

Panic attacs from needles so do happen. The first time I had to give a blood sample, it took three people and almost an hour to calm me down enough to place the needle. They had to physically restrain me. But I've never fainted.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Well, I probably fainted that one time because I'd had to control myself completely while they were doing it (it was a TB test for the Army), so I had to stand there and just take it. I passed out a few minutes later. The worst panic attack I ever had had was actually over a little finger-prick for a blood-sugar test for a sports physical. It took 45 minutes of me screaming and crying, and finally two nurses held me down. Over that little thing. I've gotten better over time (in fact, I regularly donate blood with the Red Cross now), but I still have real problems with shots.

*offers chocolate* Chocolate makes everything better. :)