Fear

[AC9breaker]

I am scared of water.

It sounds silly but I realized with complete certainty that I am afraid of water only recently. I didn't get a glimpse of this unknown fear of mine until I started doing water survival training in boot camp which are absolutely cake compared to the water survival qualifications in aircrew candidate school. Somehow I managed to overcome those unrealized fears to graduate and move on to my next training evolutions. So now I'm in a beautiful island in the pacific and obviously I decide to take in the local hobbies and traits and go snorkeling with some buddies. The difficulty controlling my breath, the tenseness in my muscles, the mental battle of all the things that can go wrong and me telling myself to calm the fuck down and focus and get calm. It's pretty disappointing. But I continue to try and push myself, to get comfortable and conquer this fear. Little by little I think I'm making progress and swimming out farther and farther.

Thought this would a good topic and maybe folks here have similar stories or experiences they'd like to share. Or maybe even talk about their own personal triumphs.

[RenzokukenZ]

I have an irrational fear of fish and being submerged in water, and yet I love boats. Quite the contradiction there, I know. To this day I do not know how to swim, nor ever tried to learn, because of this. Made even more mocking as the apartment swimming pool is literally right outside my window. I couldn't even bring myself to touch a fish we were supposed to disect in Biology back in the day, despite the day before I disected a bullfrog no problem (even picking the frog up and playing around with it) Its also why I either rush through the meat section of the grocery store, or skip it entirely. Needless to say, you'll never see me in an aquarium, even if it was the only place that was hiring. I can't recall how these fears started. They've just been there for as long as I can remember.

I once joked that if I took the Batman route and used my fear as a strength, I would be Aquaman.

Then there's the rational fear of the house being broken into with the kids inside while I'm away somewhere. Or perhaps the fear of being unable to protect them in general.

[Polly]

Bees. Deathly scared of bees...because even one sting could be enough to kill me if I'm not near an epipen and then rush to the ER when it occurs. I'm not really sure that's a fear I'll ever get over. That one began when I was four and got attacked by an entire nest of bees, went into shock/cardiac arrest all that fun stuff. When I was twelve or thirteen I got stung a couple more times and had a similar reaction and ever since then I've had to carry an epipen anywhere I go usually only during summer months.

Bees are about the only thing I can think of that I have a crippling fear of.

[CelestialBlade]

Spiders. No particular reason why, they just creep me the fuck out. I love scorpions and shit, but spiders are eugh no. I'm not as bad as I used to be about them, but there was this one place in Guild Wars Prophecies that I absolutely refused to explore because I found the spiders in that game so disgusting. There was this tight corridor deep in the Maguuma Jungle that led to The Falls I think it was called, and all through it these huge slimy spiders would very suddenly descend all around you. They were strong, they could inflict a movement debuff on you so you couldn't run...it was a fucking nightmare for me XD Never went back to that place.

Only other real fear I have is losing my friends. I can be an introvert as much as I can be an extrovert, but the thought of any of my close friends just up and disappearing freaks me out. As someone who's dealt with a lot of loss in her life, it's unfortunately a fear I've had to face. And it's not something you get used to.

That's pretty much it other than silly irrational things that squick me out, like drowning in a corrosive/boiling/slimy substance (fucking D&D DM making my Rogue traverse over a giant pit of acid!) or being eaten by plants or some bullshit. Yay nightmare fuel!

[Reiketsu]

Spiders.

Same here xD"

And well, I'm really terribly afraid of heights to the point I collapse to my knees or lie down flat on the ground, crying like insane, lol
I dunno why, but I seriously can't take it... I'm already starting to feel weird and slightly scared standing at the top of a 2 meter high staircase and looking down I start to feel like I'm losing my balance and have to grab something to hold on to... u_u"

I also hate being stuck in huge masses of people... every train ride to uni is like a nightmare to me...

[Retehi]

As strange as it sounds, I have a fear of going to sleep. I have chronic nightmare problems, so I tend to get a bit nervous when I go to lay down. That's why I usually exhaust myself as best I can in the day, so I can fall dead asleep without thinking about it.

It's been going on for the past 8 or so years.

[Polly]

As strange as it sounds, I have a fear of going to sleep. I have chronic nightmare problems, so I tend to get a bit nervous when I go to lay down. That's why I usually exhaust myself as best I can in the day, so I can fall dead asleep without thinking about it.

It's been going on for the past 8 or so years.

I guess sleeping is something else I've been struggling with in terms of fear. Mostly related to losing my parents over the last two years. Ever since my mom first passed, I've had dreams about her non-stop, and when I lost my father back in July they only intensified. I too try and exhaust myself as much as possible and sometimes, I just don't bother sleeping much at all.

Any trauma or themes connecting your nightmares as well?

[.Rusty.]

Getting drafted into an unjust war. I aint gonna kill someone just so some shitbag politician can get his name in a history book. So i guess fear of dying and fear of being forced to kill someone else. :l

Also yeah that sleep thing >.>

[CelestialBlade]

The fear of nightmares, especially in response to a trauma, can take years to subside...but it will. Don't lose sight of that, friends.

[Micro]

Driving scares me, much so that I still refuse to try and get a driver's license. Talk about embarrassing.