JFF- What Are Your 'Irrational' Fears?

I have some weird fears. I have been trying to read about it lately.

I am afraid of dark water.
I am afraid of flooding toilets.
I am afraid to be alone in a public bathroom (the more stalls...the bigger the panic) I feel like all of the toilets are going to flood at once or something!!

That is my top 3. Wish i knew why :(

Hmm, I must be weirder than I thought. I read thru the responses expecting to see a bunch of snake haters out here but, alas, not so.

Guess I'll have to own up to my irrational fear of snakes. Can't stand them, can't stand to see one in person or even on tv. I know this will make ya'll laugh. I was on a first (and only date--wonder why?) and he took me to the St Louis Zoo and into the reptile area. Couple minutes later he escorted me out in full blown panic attack mode after having seen a couple of snakes. Still peeved at myself about that one--he had money and was good looking!

another one for bridges. and also I have a weird fear of too much weight in areas of the house. For instance, we have a piano in the living room which I know is super heavy. So if too many people are standing around it, it freaks me out and I fear we will all go through the floor. many instances like this with too many heavy things in one spot.

Okay, here it is. I am going to say it out loud (type it out as the case may be).....When sleeping I have to make sure that no part of me is hanging off the bed. Irrationally think that someone or something is going to pull me under the bed. I have felt like this ever since I was little. Not sure where it comes from, maybe a movie or something. Logically I know it doesn't make sense but I still can't have a foot, a hand or anything hang off the side of the bed. Don't know if this qualifies as an "irrational" fear or not but there it is.

Oh, I'll tell on my 19 year old daughter, she's scared of butterflies! Don't understand that one. She freaks when one comes near her. :)

Oh my gosh, my husband thinks I am insane b/c of my irrational fears, I have many.

1. Paper cuts. I am very cautious around paper, loose pieces of mail that falls on the floor, stacks of paper... I am scared of paper cuts on my eyeball, between my fingers/cuticle, or basically on any fold/joint of my body (like ankles/backs of knees/inside elbow creases/neck...) Sounds weird, but I have had horrible papercuts on the most random places!

2. Toilets! Touching the edge of the toilet with my calf or leg. Once, I was in a teeny tiny stall and my toenail hit the edge of the toilet and gunk got under my toenail! I have been very paranoid ever since (and I was even paranoid before too).

3. Fire. Like at a gas station and I can't rescue my kids. I try and pump gas only when my kids are not with me.

4. Driving over a bridge and landing in water and can't rescue my kids from their carseats. I get very nervous driving over water.

5. I'm not scared of the dark, but I still run and jump in bed when i turn out the lights. Or I run throguh the hallways to my bedroom when I turn the lights out for the night. Too much "bloody mary" in the mirror as a kid, I guess!

My husband is the irrational one. He hates snakes and won't even watch them on tv or have anything in our house that has anything to do with snakes. I bought him a venom energy drink and he poured it into a glass because he could'nt face the snake eyes on the can.

He is also afraid coyotes are going to eat our children. He wont let the kids play alone in the yard because he thinks a coyote will run through our fenced in yard and snatch them. He blames all small dog disappearnaces on the coyotes. We live in the middle of the Dallas metroplex! It's a Concrete Jungle. Coyotes? Seriously?

me? I'm perfectly sane. One of us has to be!

Since we are sharing....

I hold my breath whenever I drive by a garbage truck. I'm scared I will breathe in gas from some sort of household chemical/wieird bodily fluid/fungus/virus/toxic errosion that is breeding in someone's trash. I've been known to shut off my air conditioning even as I drive by and leaving it off for a few good engine turns until I know the air is safe to breath again.

And you know those big open bed trucks that haul huge pipes stacked up high on its extended bed? I always be sure to not drive next to them on the highway in case one of the straps unbuckle and the pipes roll onto me and my kid in the car. Again, I've been known to drive behind one even if its going 50 in a 70, just so I dont' have to drive next to it and risk severe injury should one of them come loose.

snakes...... last year i saw a small green one in yard and ran into a tree running away
the irrational part... in reptile houses i am convinced they will somehoow all break out....

Being lost or separated from someone Im out with..stems from a childhood trauma, so maybe not so irrational, but youd think Id get over it by now.
I worry the neighbors trees are going to fall on my house. Well, they do hang over my house and we do get wind at times and a lot of trees in our neighborhood have fallen on homes and cars, so maybe that not so irrational either.
Being on the road near a motorcycle. I just KNOW they are going to go into a curve and lay it down and Im going to run them over.
Hate seeing out windows after dark. I want the drapes closed for fear Im going to see a creepy face in the window.

I have never said this out loud to anyone.............When we go on vacation and are coming back home...the whole drive back I am super anxious about my house being broken into......finding my stuff broken and a mess. I almost hyper ventalilate I get so scared and nervous. Before we leave on vacation, I try to make a mental note of where things are so when I get back I can remember and make sure nothing is out of place.
NOTHING has ever happened to me to make this happen. I don't know why it happens. I am ok overnight just one night, but more than that I freak.
I don't even tell my husband that I am sitting there trying not to scream at him to HURRY UP AND GET HOME!! I just sit there and pray and remind myself to breath. CRAZY!! Totally Irrational!! We drive up to the house and I see it all ok, doors not busted open and I'm ok......................crazy!!!
hehe, gulp!!
D.

Wasps, hornets and yellow jackets.
I have had my husband pull over and I got out of the car on the interstate because of one.
I have also used one whole can of Raid on one wasp.
I will go out the back door if there is one by the front.
I do not do stinging things.

MommaL I can't do certain bridges either. Especially those in NC and the one on 301(?) from MD to VA. My daughter actually screamed at me to not close my eyes going to Emerald Isle, which is how I usually do bridges as a passenger.

yep I have to agree with spiders. I probably have one nightmare per month about some crazy fast jumping spider chasing and jumping after me no matter how fast I run and zig-zag!
But also bears... I know most have a healthy fear of them, but I live in CO and whenever we hike or camp I'm always terrified of bears.
Ok I forgot my craziest one: hummingbirds! dive-bombing my head... :-)

oh cockroaches for sure!!! Like I can't stand them!! I mean a big red wasp is like, eh, but a roach that will do nothing but be disgusting and I can come unglued!!

I have two. Fish and butterflies.
I went swimming down in Florida and was in the ocean and a school of fish went swimming right where I was. Their little fish bodies were bumping into me and I was a screaming mess. BLEH! I wont swim in our lakes or rivers for fear that a fish will bump into me.
Butterflies creep ME OUT! They are like giant moths (which also freak me out). Their huge wings and big bug feet! BLEH! Gives me the heebie geebies just thinking about it. We went to our science center in Seattle and my boys and husband went into the butterfly area and I stayed out. The very thought of a butterfly on me will send me into hyperbreathing.
L.

Spiders. The book Twenty-three Minutes in Hell says they are there also. I believe it and I don't plan to go there!
Also heights if there is nothing to keep you from falling.

Sharks ~ I am completely and totally fascinated by them but absolutely scared to death of them. I live inland for crying out loud!!
When hubby and I went deep sea fishing on our honeymoon it was all I could do to get on the silly boat. He wants to go on a cruise some day...I don't think I could do it. Between sharks and not being able to see land I would probably die of an anxiety attack.

Bridges! I am always afraid when we cross a bridge in the car. I fear we are going to crash and fall into the water below.

Breaking something again! I broke my elbow in Jan.... after surgery and 2 plates and 12 screws that have to stay in me forever and 2 pins & 2 wires that have to come out as soon as my forearm (that the DR. had to break to put me back together) heals...just from tripping and falling...I fear falling again! So scary how something so innocent as falling can damage you for forever? I did not get back full range of motion but the Dr. was uber impressed with what I did get back...

Snakes! I hate them. They gross me out like no other!

I know I have more but these are my top 3...since you say that the irrational fears about our children do not count.

MICE! MICE! MICE! Um..... has one ever crawled on your foot?! One did on mine! I AM DEATHLY AFRAID OF THEM!

Ok feel stupid with two of my top three.

#1 CRICKETS I am more afraid of crickets then anything else I can think of that doesnt involve my kids. They jump when you arent expecting them to. They give me so much anxiety.
#2 Feet I cant stand anyones other then my husbands feet touching me or walking barefooted NO WAY it makes my hands sweat and I start building up anxiety.
#3 I cant do bridges either without a ton of anxiety.

ok and adding a #4 only because it terrifies me... I am so scared of running over my youngest son with the truck that even if i know he is inside the house I will stop about 200 feet away and get out of the truck, walk around it to make sure I am not draggin him. ALMOST EVERY TIME I LEAVE!

I'm terrified of heights. I think there is a part of me that thinks I'm going to lose my balance or get seized with an irresistible urge to jump when I'm very high up.

Moths! They just freak me out. My family enjoys teasing me about this. :-)

My biggest irrational fear is snakes, not just the posionous ones, not even just REAL ones. I FREAK (though I am working on it) at all snakes. Pictures of snakes are going to come to life (can't look at them let alone touch them to turn the page), snakes on T.V. are suddenly in my house, snakes in the movies are somehow going to make it all the way home to my bed, and I agree with a couple of the earlier posters that snakes in cages WILL get out I will go in the reptile house at the zoo ONLY to look at the gators that are on the opposite side of the building. A couple years ago I was at a friend's kids birthday party, he got a plastic remote control snake, he started to play with it and I started to freak so I tried to walk descretly away, he noticed and started to chase me with the snake, I was half way up the stairs in a full blown panic attack over a PLASTIC snake, the parents had him put it away till I left, I felt sooooo childish I apologized to the parents said I would go outside he could play with his toy etc but they left it up, now we laugh about it. My kids think it is hilarous that I am so afraid (10 and 6) and they and my BF tease me that they are going to get one for a pet, to which I respond "over my dead body"

ants creep me out! Maybe because there is not usually just one! My oldest son messed with an anthill on our patio a few weeks ago and there where literally thousands all over the patio in a matter of minutes. Ugh! We went inside because it was freaking me out!

Squirrels- I know, wierd. There's just something about them that freaks me out!

That somehow a cockroach is going to crawl into my hair, or up my pants leg and its going to take me an ungodly amount of time and effort to remove it. Meanwhile its sniffing me, depositing its diseases on me and scratching me with its spiky scratchy freaky little legs.