Daft irrational fears.

[Ranger 6]

Daft - check
Irrational - check

I haven't read through to see if anyone has any similar thoughts.....

Fire/Ambulance stations - my concern is when walking/driving past there will be a 'shout' and I'll get run-over.

[extraT]

To all those who have taken the time to post- thank you.

I have been swimming in the South China Sea just off Vietnam, off Brighton beach, in Spain etc… but that was years ago, back when I was single. Now I’m a dad with responsibilities. I have no idea if that is connected to my irrational fear or not, but damn… this is pissing me off…

[Gargamel]

I think its human nature to become slightly less ging homes you get older.

My gradual dislike of heights has grown over the years. I think it’s the loss of the confidence of youth and the awareness that bad things really hurt..

[Steamer]

I seem to have developed one about jacking up and working under vehicles which is a bit of a shame.

Not totally sure where its come from.. I think I've just 'over thunk it'. Although my trolley jack did let out a very loud 'ping' which un-nerved me not long ago.

Always use axle stands, put the wheel under the sill if I'm removing one and always chock the wheels.

Its rare I have to do it these days, totally fine under a two post lift though.



This makes my feet feel a bit funny... Probably grounds to hand in my PH card

[pip t]

Trams in city streets with other traffic, pedestrians etc. I think it's the fact that they can't swerve if they need to. Probably not a phobia as such, but I get edgy round them.

My only real proper phobia is emetophobia. Cannot cope with vomit at all - either myself or others. Proper panic attacks if I'm anywhere near it.

[Scabutz]

Steamer said:

I seem to have developed one about jacking up and working under vehicles which is a bit of a shame.

Not totally sure where its come from.. I think I've just 'over thunk it'. Although my trolley jack did let out a very loud 'ping' which un-nerved me not long ago.

Always use axle stands, put the wheel under the sill if I'm removing one and always chock the wheels.

Its rare I have to do it these days, totally fine under a two post lift though.



This makes my feet feel a bit funny... Probably grounds to hand in my PH card

I don't think that's irrational. You slide under that, there's a good chance you'll be pushing up the daisies.

[DaveGoddard]

Wacky Racer said:

=Being stuck in a traffic jam or having a puncture on the way to the airport to catch a plane.

I have a version of that too. Having my plans disrupted by something like that, being stuck somewhere due to a travel problem, not having a firm plan ahead of me because of it...I don't know if there is a name for it.

I also have a massive fear of being alone with no-one to message or talk to. An example of this was when I was working in Spain and sharing a flat with an English colleague. The wifi in the flat hadn't been working for a couple of days and my data on my phone didn't work there for some reason, and after a few days my colleague/flatmate had to go to a job in another country. That evening I left the office we were working at and was walking back to the flat, and I realised that if the wifi still wasn't working, I wouldn't be able to talk to anyone. For the first time in my life I was totally alone, and I was terrified.

[hidetheelephants]

extraT said:

Update: I didnt jump but not because of this stupid fear, but because we went for lunch at a restaurant and didn’t return to the lake. I must say I was relieved. Now I’m watching YouTube vids on how to over come this fear because I know in the next day or two, I’ll have to do it (depending on when we return to that part of the lake)

My daughter, who must have overheard me talking to my wife, said “but daddy you’re not scared of anything”… st… I have a reputation to uphold…

Any advice? Besides don’t be a big girls blouse?

In view of the number of people who drowned in open water this summer, don't be jumping off the end of jetties/piers/etc unless you've already acclimatised to the water temp, especially if very deep/cold(so pretty much all the time with piers etc). Go for a swim from the beach first and work up to it, bearing in mind the water will be warmer in the shallows.

[not serious]
Alternatively wear a life jacket and then jump off what you like, but be prepared for cold shock to st you up properly, especially as you're already irrationally afraid.
[/not serious]

[extraT]

Update: again today I tried, I really tried to jump. I couldn’t.

I’m going to take the advice and ask for a life jacket. I don’t care if there are kids of 6/7/8 years old jumping off this thing. I don’t care if I look stupid, I just want to beat this fear now.

[Einion Yrth]

extraT said:

Update: again today I tried, I really tried to jump. I couldn’t.

I’m going to take the advice and ask for a life jacket. I don’t care if there are kids of 6/7/8 years old jumping off this thing. I don’t care if I look stupid, I just want to beat this fear now.

Stand on the edge, and let your daughter give you the kick up the arse you need.

[jdw100]

Friend has a phobia about scissors - he has put them out of sight. Struggles to look at them.

He also has a compulsion to jump off buildings, can only last 30 mins or so at a rooftop bar before we have to leave.

Another friend: chickens and lifts. We rented a 12th floor penthouse in an apartment block Marseille on a road trip a few years back. Had one of those typical old rattly lifts. Every time we went out he would do all the stairs down and back up again.

Its a real pain going to a rooftop bar with these two....

My wife - total fear of monkeys, Will scream and cover her eyes. I've had to grab the steering wheel on more than one occasion. She is getting a bit better though over time, since we had a child.

Friend I traveled with a few years ago, dreadful fear of losing her passport. Totally irrational and overpowering.

My brother - fear of heights. His wife had to get window cleaner to help him down from flat roof of extension, just couldn't turn round to get down his ladder.

Again, quite a lot better after having children. Not sure why?

I used to mock people but not now (except my brother). Unless you have those irrational fears I just don't think you can understand them.

Easy to say: it doesn't matter if you are 20m about the ground, it's no different to being 500m or doesn't matter if seabed is 20m below or 1km.

The nett result is the same. For me that makes perfect sense, but to someone with that fear it doesn't compute.

We have a friend is very phobic re cats. Now that is very irrational. We were on holiday last year: went for seafood dinner, in a fish restaurant, in a fish hall, part of a fish market, next to a dock where they bring in fish. One to two cats hanging about.....

She kept leaping up from table, shrieking and running away. Would then come back for 3 minutes and repeat.

[Kermit power]

Wacky Racer said:

Being stuck in a traffic jam or having a puncture on the way to the airport to catch a plane.


.

There's absolutely nothing irrational about that... have you never met the M25???

Being roughly equidistant from all, my preference goes Eurostar, London City, Gatwick, being smacked over the head with a brick, Heathrow. If I have no choice but to fly from Heathrow, I'll always go the evening before, as I've had too many experiences of bad traffic trying to get there to trust to morning flights.

Getting back to the OP and the depth of oceans, I can empathise with that. I've never been in the middle or an ocean, but there is that brief moment of alarm when you're snorkeling and swim out over the top of an underwater cliff. I think it probably down to the split second between your brain telling you that you're about to fall to your death and it remembering that gravity doesn't work like that in water...

[dvs_dave]

USS Woodrow Wilson looms out of the darkness


Cargo Ship passes over diver


Hydroelectric Dam surge cavern


Tidal Power Turbine inlet

[Parsnip]

Two of mine:

The old-timey church door style keys. What if one of those got caught on your front teeth and snapped them off? I get a similar fear whenever I see Andi Oliver eating something on tv - a fork going in 90 degrees out of alignment is all it would take to have a dental catastrophe.

When you are sat with your feet up, what if someone trips and falls, landing on your knees and snapping them backwards?

[P5BNij]

Level crossings - I’ve had a few nasty near misses driving trains over the bloody things, which makes me even more wary driving over them in my car! Sounds daft, but I always fear the worst

Edited by P5BNij on Friday 10th September 09:22

[GroundEffect]

dvs_dave said:

USS Woodrow Wilson looms out of the darkness


Cargo Ship passes over diver


Hydroelectric Dam surge cavern


Tidal Power Turbine inlet

Coming back to this, I did do my diving trip in Thailand per my post above - nearly 3 years ago now, bloody hell.

Honestly, it was no issue in the water. I think because I had so much to think about whilst diving. The wreck we dived was the Pratong which was a former transport ship in the US Navy from WW2.

https://youtu.be/ORttEO9AKco?t=289

That's my go pro footage of the dive.

The worst bit was the dive down from the surface to ~27m as due to the sea conditions the seabed wasn't visible that day from the surface, so you just descend down and out of the gloom you see this ship, upside down, in the water. You can't see the other end of it whilst under in those conditions so you just swim your way along the side and as you saw, we even went up through the deck, out of a hole in the hull. That was cool.

Thinking about it now, I do feel a bit "icky" but clearly it is possible

[NoisyGriff]

Wife's parents are convinced that if my wife and I go away as a couple, we will be killed and orphan our children. Belief has infected wife, so we've spent a total of about 8 nights away from the kids in 12 years.

If you take that fear to its logical conclusion, you should never take your children on holiday. Surely it's better to orphan them that have them also face the certain death that comes with travel!

[Mark-996-911]

Mice. I know they can't hurt me. I know that at 6' 2'' and 20 stone a tiny mouse will be more scared of me but I can't help it. They turn my stomach and make my flesh crawl! I just can't bear the blighters.

Yesterday morning a double plug socket in the kitchen just stopped working. The fridge had gone off and so had the internet router but no fuses were tripped. Weird.

I have no idea why but I figured that I would just take the 2 screws out, pull the socket cover forward and see if I could spot a broken wire or something? What I saw took a second or two to register. I just wasn't sure what I was looking at other than it being something I wouldn't ordinarily expect to be in a plug socket? It was one of the feet I focussed on first and then I realised... It was a bloody mouse! If anyone remembers Tom & Jerry you'll know what happened next! My Mrs found the whole episode hilarious and delighted in telling the electrician who came to sort the electrics, then the postman and then the pest control fella.

[ElectricSoup]

Fish

[Einion Yrth]

Mark-996-911 said:

Mice. I know they can't hurt me. .

Tell that to the puncture wounds on my missus's index finger. Boy did she scream (and swear).