What are your top 3 fears or phobias?

1. losing my kids
2. letting my family down
3. horses (I can ride them but talk about bound up)

height
awkard moments
Nuns (bad catholic school experience)

My mother’s health and receiving irreversible brain damage, that’s about it. I’m cool with almost everything else.

1) Buried alive (I mean in the dirt, not in a casket. I hate to imagine breathing in dirt)
2) Drowning in my own blood (Internal bleeding scares the hell out of me, but that has to be the biggest one, you know you are going to die, no matter what you do)
3)Being alone in the universe (It scares the hell out of me to think we ARE the only thing in the universe. There has to be more then just us ugly apes)

It used to be a lot of things but since love conquers fear I fear no more.

1) social situations (look into social anxiety disorder if your interested / confused)
2) deep water where you cant see the bottom
3) heights higher than your comfortable of jumping off

1. Failure.
2. Others leaving me.
3. Failure.

No one said a McCain presidency yet? Hard to believe.

Death of any of my children ranks number one for me.
2— Death of spouse
3— Cobras

On a very physical level, my top three fears are:
1) Being stabbed by anything. (nearly anything sharp makes me nervous)
2) Drowning/suffocating.
3) Falling from very high up.

Those are all basically fears of death.

As for myself… right now I’m primarily afraid that I will never be able to open up to someone emotionally, that I’ve lost the ability to love.

@Chuck: I love how it’s your family and then Cobras. Struck me as amusing, since they are so unrelated. :-p

1. Tearing my frenulum again.
2. see 1
3. no. thats it just 1

@lightlyseared – need I ask which frenulum? I actually had to wiki that one – and I’m a pre-med student. lol.

On second thought – I’d rather not know. There are some body parts that don’t need names…

1. The height thing-I can’t stand next to a window in a skyscraper.

2. Dying with an untidy apartment or unpaid bills.

3. Blindness

Do we have a shrink on board to tell us what these phobias mean?

1) Death
2) Pain
3) Maggots

1) Heights
2) Going blind
3) The dark. (See above for reasoning)

@gailileogirl – good point

Swap horses for blindness on my list

1. Bugs (especially “house” centipedes and spiders)
2. Death (me and/or family)
3. losing my cats

- People who look at you out of the corner of their eyes while grinning (works almost as well if they are serious or frawning).
– Self-doubt.
– Audit notice from the tax man… Coo coo, kachoo (I know I’m mixing lyrics, lighten up).

goo goo ga joob :)

GQ. Public speaking not on anyone’s list?

1. Space
2. Spiders
3. Space spiders

Public speaking, pshaw—-
And having been close to death several times, once they even told me I was dying, I never felt the same frisson I feel on the 40th floor. Of course I never really believed I was dying, so maybe that makes all the difference.

Tornados, my mom dying because she is ill, one of my pets getting ran over by a car, tractor, or being them being eaten by another animal.

@Trusting. Oh, YEAH! Don’t get me started…

I am also scared of werewolves and the aliens from the movie Signs.

1.) The death of my mom
2.) Failure for acceptance to med school
3.) Control (that of someone over me, not my own)

I see this as two questions, one is things you are afraid might happen and the second is phobias.

My “realistic” fears – one of my kids dying young, me dying in a horrible plane or car crash, global warming

My phobias – public speaking (yes, trusting), snakes, premature burial

O.K. – now I’m seriously scared and worried.

1. Social situations
2. Heights
3. Bridges

-Dying last in my family.
-The decline of music in our schools.
-Being disabled in some way that prevents me from doing some of the things I want to do— either outdoors or in term of accomplishments.

- A progressive, debilitating disease.
-Homelessness and poverty as a senior citizen.
-Failure.

1. losing my sense of smell
2. developing uncontrollable, undetectable^ acrid body odor
3. Marmalade

loser that reminds me of another fear-bulges not bridges

1. Not being able to find my daughter in a public place – I have nightmares about this all the time
2. Something crawling on me (really, it’s those f#*!en spiders)
3. Aliens – the movie SIGNS just did me in…so under the umbrella of “aliens” goes: walking in the dark, driving in the dark, walking by darkened doorways, past darkened halls, orbs, strange lights, and trees….but the anal probing could be fun (hahaha just joking!)

1) Having a limb amputated
2) Paralysis
3) Screwing up my career

1) Death
2) Things that are porous ( I cant look at them)
3) Failing

@Trance24: #2 is hilarious!

@girlofscience I know its awful I have no idea why it bothers me. lol

1) rats.. They terrify the crap out of me.
2) paralysis..
3) letting the people close to me down

By the way, I did not mention my #1 fear here because I am so terrified of it that I am afraid if I publicly announce it, the wrong person could use it against me.

(And, I bet no one could guess this fear from that description because it is so bizarre, but if you want to make a guess, PM me!)

@girl: we should make our fun guesses public. :^> I’m going with fear of little stray bits of paper.

@cyndyh: Ok, cool, but I will definitely not reveal it publicly! If someone guesses it, I will say differently in the thread and PM them the truth that they got it! (Unless I am worried they are one of the wrong people.)

My response to your guess and a clue is that anyone could create little stray bits of paper and use that against me by putting them around me! There’s a specific type of person that I would want not to know I had this fear.

1) Losing one of my children (literally lost, or to death)
2) Heights…severe vertigo always makes me feel like I’m going to jump!
3) Chaos

@Lightlyseared and Suirbel: I actually tore the one under my tongue…that was no fun, either!

I had a friend who had a phobia of buttons. What’s up with that?

Mine are:
1) Losing one of my children or having them be kidnapped
2) Sharks, specifically being eaten by one while swimming or having a plane crash into the sea, surviving, and then being eaten by a shark.
3) Spiders, but I’m working on that one…

My biggest fear is people figuring me out. I’m such a ridiculous closet case in real life. I hate it when people figure things out about me without me telling them. It freaks me out to no end.

I’m agoraphobic and claustrophobic at the same time, which makes it pretty impossible to ever be physically comfortable. I always feel either too cramped or too exposed.

Those are probably the most debilitating three.

1. snakes
2. something happening to my children or husband
3. being stabbed.

1. Jellyfish (sorry Fluther)
2. Doctors
3. Loss

@intro – Oh man! Jellyfish are terrifying! They’re the #1 reason I won’t be seen scuba diving anywhere.

1. Spiders
2. Stinging Insects (bees)
3. Injections/IV/Stealing my blood

@tiny: Stealing your blood? Too much True Blood…no more vampire TV for you!

@girl: Carnies? Test questions that end with “Discuss.”? Boyfriends who stare at you while you’re sleeping? Roommates who put their experiments in the fridge unlabeled? Neighbors who make thumping sounds from the other side of the wall? Children who… just children?

@tinyfaery—Does other people’s blood freak you out? I have a major problem with needles, and seeing my own blood makes me sick to my stomach. But I can handle all other kinds of guts and gore with no problem.

@girl: clowns

and oompa loompas

@girl: That people will find out you’re a republican?

Like JanBB, I see this as two separate questions as well.
To make up for this little bit of cheatery, I’ve only chosen two of each.

Realistic Fears:
1) Death of loved ones.
2) Living/dying with regrets.

Irrational Phobias:
1) Crumbled Styrofoam.
2) Just the idea of being in a small boat, in the middle of the ocean, on a cloudy night, in pitch darkness, rocking back and forth, and listening to the water lap against the side of the boat. I think it would drive me insane. Someone might have to smack me with an oar to keep me from jumping overboard; which is totally irrational. With no other imminent threat, night would pass and most likely we’d see land in the morning. (Unless, of course, we were characters on Lost or something.)

Small Spaces and Suffocating (Claustrophobia)
My Achilles Tendon being severed.
My Wrists being Slit.

And then there’s the ultimate -
Snakes on a Plane!!!

Being without a job. And I am living it.

@cyndyh: No, none of those, though I suppose you’d be on the right conceptual track with the “neighbors making thumping sounds.” This fear has nothing to do with neighbors nor sounds, but you got the right idea in that I wouldn’t want certain people (e.g., neighbors), to know about this fear so that they could use it against me (e.g., by thumping on walls).

@augustlan: No, I’m not a Republican.

@funkdaddy: No, and no.

I’ll give another hint and say that this is not some fear that would have no actual consequences. It may be irrational (in that it is statistically extremely unlikely to occur), but it would certainly be a terrifying thing for anyone, were it to happen. I just happen to be specifically afraid of this unlikely occurrence.

@girl: being kidnapped? Winning the lottery and being struck by lightning aren’t really under anyone else’s control. So, being kidnapped by friends or roommates?

Suppose I should list mine:
1. something happening to my daughter
2. natural disasters
3. heights (esp those stairs w/o backs to them like fire escapes)

1. losing my memories
2. going blind
3. giant sea creatures

The is a girl who goes to school with me that has a fear of people touching her elbows. She can not even think about it. Bizzare huh?

@trance Strange. I used to work with a guy that thought elbows were very erotic. Hope they never meet up!!!!

Why is that bizarre? I don’t like people touching my face. It’s tickly and then I want to wash it. It’s awful.

@rowenaz I guess I say bizarre because it is very different to me. Do you have an actual phobia of someone touching your face? Because when I say she doesnt like people touching her elbow I mean she “DOES NOT” like it. She will freak the “f” out. She is also afraid of bunnies. Shes a cool girl though very pretty.

@cyndyh: Nope, but closer, in that everyone would be afraid of that!

Next hint: I do not know (to my knowledge) any of the people who could use this fear against me.

@girl: Fear of being punked? Fear of meeting a particular celebrity? Fear of a Palin Presidency? :^> Fear of Mormons knocking on your door?

@ GOS – fear of revealing your fear? fear of having your fears being psychologically exploited?

No , it’s not a phobia, I just don’t like it.

@cyndyh: No, my fear is much scarier than all of those things.

@Bri_L: Nope, check the hints above. Those don’t coincide with my hints.

Much scarier than a Palin presidency?

@cyndyh: On an individual level, yes.

Ok, I think I give up. Will you tell me in a PM? I won’t tell anyone. I’m just very curious now.

@cyndyh: Sure.

@girlofscience can I know? I am dying to know! I would never tell. I think that is stupid, I wouldn’t want people to know about my greatest fear. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

I hope it’s not “I fear that someone would care less what my secret phobia is,” because I embody that fear.

[removed by me—why would I tell you guys?]

@aidje so did you post your fears and then remove them or just post that you removed them to make a point that you weren’t posting them?

@Gos: Me, too? Pretty please?

it’s not like we would hold your fears against you. We’d just laugh silently in front of our computers…or be amazed in the privacy of our own homes.

@Trance24 and augustlan: Maybe. I sent it to cyndyh, and she agreed it might be best kept under wraps. What if one of you is the kind of person I’m worried about? :(

Oh, I sure hope not…I don’t want to be the type of person anyone worries about!

@GOS – Okay, NOW my interest is piqued. Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellme please!

And me! please ;)

…And me!

Are you scurred of stalkers?

isn’t it more fun to guess? ...

so let’s see, it’s something that is legitimately scary, potentially long range, and beyond her control…

I’m going voodoo priestesses for $800 Alex. Unabombers? Practitioners of Scientology? People who send those chain letter emails???

i don’t think anyone should be that scared of any of us…esp me. I may seem strange, but i’d never hurt anyone.

@Knotmyday: Your answer was mean! I didn’t care if people were interested—I simply said I wasn’t posting my actual #1 fear. People, on their own, became interested and started guessing.

@everyone who wants to know: Maaaaaaaybe! I am very scared, though! Please indicate your age, sex, and relationship with animals as a child, so I can do some profiling and determine the likelihood that you could be the type of person I’m worried about.

argh….I hate my age….hate saying it, typing it. I don’t feel my age. Can I just say over 40?

Female

I’ve always had animals, as a child and now. We always had dogs. I didn’t get cats until I was 18 and moved away from home. Couldn’t have dogs in my apt, so got a cat. I’ve both now. I’ve had gerbils and hamsters. Not my faves. My gerbils kept eating their babies and they grossed me out. I had fish and mice. Turtles. Birds. hate birds now tho. I never much cared for hamsters etc. crawling on me tho.
I’ve had dogs that had to be put down because they were too agressive (I’m thinking inbred) and bit my little girl.

Profile away.

I’m the type of person that prefers dogs to ppl. I get upset when I drive past the humane society (and I have to every day) and see the volunteers walking the strays. They’re so happy to be outside. It breaks my heart. I want to save them all.
I report animal abuse. Even helped a kitty find a new home when my neighbor didn’t seem to care about her anymore until i had found her a new home and she was long gone. Police were involved—it was not good. But the kitty is happy.
sorry for the rant

@Lightlyseared
I posted them, and then I sat there thinking, “Gee, this is something that only my closest friends know. This is a good example of something that I don’t want freely available online.”

@deaddolly: You passed. Sent. Please do not post my answer publicly.

@GoS: 24/f, always loved animals. I feel bad when I see animals dead in the road, and once when I hit one, I cried. I always had cats, and a dog, and mice… and reptiles… my cats now are my world. I get sad when I see stray cats and I want to stop my car and scoop them up and bring them home.

@poofandmook: You passed. Sent. Please do not post my answer publicly.

@others who wanted to know: Ok, there seems to be a consensus that I really shouldn’t be telling anyone else. Sorry!

Girl- apologies. I wasn’t in the mood. In the spirit of the game:

Would you like to guess what kind of shoes I am wearing right now? Bet you can’t!

@everyone: Based on the questions you had to answer to get the phobia… I think I was right. Or at least in the right direction..

I’m 10, M, And torture squirrels in the woods. I fail right?

Nah really, I’m 22, F, and I’ve had mice, rabbits, cats, ferrets, dogs, birds, fish hamsters, and almost had a wolf? I pass, yes?

Don’t worry. I don’t need to know if you’re done sharing. :)

Some things are too scared to pass on to others.

And, did anyone ever feel like if they said something out loud, it may come true? This may sound dumb, but I remember telling someone years back how i would be lost without my mother around.
She died suddenly a few months later. It was very, very hard on me. Course it was just coincidence, but still.

I know you said you don’t want to tell anyone else but just in case you feel like sharing (you do owe me one for mistaking me for a middle aged man :P) I am a 16 year old female and love animals. I have two cats right now who are my babies and can always comfort me. We used to have another cat but she died before I understood the concept of death. We’ve had a gorgeous rabbit and many mice and rats, and a few goldfish. I think it’s safe to say that I’m more of a cat person but I love dogs too and love playing with my cousins golden lab. I think when I move out of home I’m going to buy a puppy.

@girlofscience I am not one to take advantage of someone else’s fear. That is just wrong. Besides I have no one to tell.

Damn. I wanna know, but I’m pretty sure my relationship with animals as a kid would disqualify me. :-\

Wow. My curiosity is pushing me, but I’m not going to ask. I don’t really get the whole animal thing, though. Much respect, GOS.

1. I suffer from extreme arachnophobia.
2. Being separated from my daughter during a natural disaster.
3. Both # 1 & 2.!!!!!

1. Poisonous spiders
2. Riding in small, single engine airplanes (NO THANKS).
3. Fireworks (the one’s you light on the ground. Was burned badly when I was 18).

1. Chlostrophobia (or just loosing my breath)
2. Outer Space
3. Spiders

1) SPIDERS = Actual Phobia!
2) The Dark = Fear
3) Being separated from my daughter during a Natural Disaster. She lives on Maui, HI, I live in CA = Fear

Oopsss…. I already answered this… Nguess I should have read further<grin>

@sccowell well the dark was new but Lurve for being consistent.

Time
Feet
Losing

Good luck to all of you with the death fear… your going to be dead for a pretty long time…

@toomuchcoffee911 Somehow, reading your list, my mind went right to you being afraid of losing your feet! :)

1. Losing a child.
2. Being alone.
3. Losing my mind.

*spiders
*severe weather (namely the winds)
*snakes

drowning

Sharks
Hiungry sharks
Sharks with laser beams on their heads ;)

@lucillelucillelucille I love that app!

@lucillelucillelucille: Frickin’ laser beams?

1. Killing my family and friends if they become zombies.
2. Darkness (Would it be scarier if in a movie, the monster was running at you full tilt down a sunny street, or who-knows-where in a network of dark alleys?
See? Always fear of the unknown)
3. Doors that are slightly open
4. Things that sort of look like eyes

@Zerstorte bet you wouldn’t be a fan of count Olafs abode.

@toomuchcoffee911 Let me guess. Lots of zombies. x~x

@Zerstorte Actually, lots of eyes.

1) The dark. I have never been able to get past this. Can’t sleep with my back to a room, have to be completely covered by sheets etc. Really interferes with my sleep patterns.

2)Suffering from a horrible illness.

3)Never falling in love.

@TheOnlyException funny thing, I have to have covers up to my head too! Wonder where that one came from! I’ve never thought about that before!
when I was a kid, I could NOT stand my toes hanging over the edge of the bed! I’m over that one though.

@OneMoreMinute Oh no i still have that thing with toes and feet and legs hanging over the edge of the bed! and i am pretty sure i will never get over it. i don’t mind though.
even in summer i need a sheet to cover me.
I don’t know why that is, I know I am afraid of the dark but the logic in my brain tells me even if THERE IS an axe murderer in my room, a duvet or a sheet certainly isn’t going to stop him.
yet i do it anyway..0_o
apparently a fear of the dark comes from something bad happening to you in the dark, it could even be someone jumping out at you from the dark as a joke, when you are that young your brain is still forming psychological reactions to things and it thinks ‘hey when you were in the dark, you got scared, i am going to make sure you are never in the dark again”
and thus makes you AFRAID of the dark, so you are less likely to be in the dark where the ‘danger’ is. and when you are in the dark every bone in your body is telling you to get out, it is your brain trying to warn you, even though it is perfectly safe.
bless.

hhaha

@TheOnlyException I believe you are quite right.
When I was a kid I had several OCD ritual of things that had to be right, in order for me to sleep.
Door ajar.
Some type of low light-could not tolerate complete darkness.
Closet door completely closed, or the clothes turned into monsters.
Sheets and blankets pulled up to my neck, sometimes over my head.
No body parts withing a foot of the edge of the bed, or the monster under the bed would claw me.
Goodnight kisses and prayers. A must.
I had to have my cat with me. This was the most important.

what do you make of this crazy list? I’m sure most kids were the same.

@OneMoreMinute That all makes perfect sense to me. Sometimes, on the worst nights even if the door was open and a lot of light was going through, even the parts of the room that were dark would bother me. I would hear bumps and things and assume someone had broken into the house to come and kill me. So ridiculous!
The funny thing is, I can easily walk around a dark street in the middle of the night by myself, even if it is deserted, without looking over my shoulder, but home, safe, in my bed, that’s when it bothers me. I just don’t understand!
There is this thing called exposure therapy, where, over the course of a few weeks, maybe months, you are exposed to progressively darker rooms for longer periods of time. Once you are forced to get past the anxiety, your brain should ‘learn’ that it is not such a bad place to be after all.
It seems like it would work, but may shake me up a bit, so I don’t know if I am willing to try it, depends how bad this fear influences my life.
Do you find that if you have had a really good day, i.e. lots of good things to think back on and laugh and at occupy your mind, you don’t pay attention to the dark at all?

@TheOnlyException For the past 20 years or so….the darkness no longer scares me. Nor being alone, or alone in the dark.
But I don’t know why I still have to have a sheet on!
Maybe I need to get scared “Sheetless!”
;-)

@OneMoreMinute AHAHAHA I’m gonna remember that one XD

@TheOnlyException So wouldn’t you know, last night I was thinking of this silly topic when I went to bed. I still HAD to have the covers up to my head! lol

@OneMoreMinute don’t worry me too!

Losing someone in my family.

Dying a slow, painful death.

Losing my “manhood”.

hair, once it is no longer attached to a head