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Phobias-What Are Yours?


Duncan

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This has been a fascinating thread... who would ever think??!

Okay, I'll confess... I've gotten better over the years, but...

Years ago my husband witnessed a car accident on the highway. One car had 4 people... a 2-door sedan. The car caught fire, and the couple in the front seat escaped, but the fire engulfed the car quickly and the couple in the back seat couldn't get out and they died. When he told me about it and how people tried to help but the flames drove them back, it just freaked me out and something in me snapped.

Thereafter, and to this day, I cannot ride in the back seat unless it is a 4-door model car. I even started carrying a hammer in my car where I could get to it so I could break out a window (my reasoning). I even carried a small hammer in my purse.

Today I've improved enough that I no longer carry a hammer, but I do have one of those special little tools for breaking windows, and I still have the back seat problem.

Also, I hate to ride with other drivers... I'd much rather drive myself where I feel like I'm in control. I had a good friend who used to follow too close to cars for the speed we were going. She would never be able to stop to avoid an accident, etc. I finally had to tell her outright. After that if I was with her she was careful...

I'm a good driver and always have been all my life, not overconfident, but sure of myself. Anyway, I'm 71 and don't foresee being able to change my fears...

GG

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I don't want to add to your worries, but you might want to add something that can slice a seatbelt off as well.

I got a C in Driver's Ed because I was too cautious even though I did well on everything else, since then I've learned to push it when I need it and don't block traffic because I'm too worried about turning, but I keep a very generous distance between cars. My son has had several rear enders, someday perhaps he will learn. He dislikes the way his dad drives, but follows his style much more than he follows mine even though he feels safer with me driving.

Edited by calmoriah
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I don't want to add to your worries, but you might want to add something that can slice a seatbelt off as well.

Thanks, Cal... the little "tool" I mentioned that I now carry also has a "slicer" for seat belts. I ordered it from one of those mail order firms like Harriet Craig. It has the pointed end that breaks windows and the other end cuts seat belts... just what I needed.

GG

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When I had just joined the church at 15 years old, a bunch of us mormon youth were out on a ward activity singing Christmas carols. Long story short .... the van we were in had an accident and we all rolled down a hill. We estimate we rolled about 10 times before hitting a tree. It was a pretty violent accident. Nobody was killed. Just up until 3 years ago (now going on 33 years since the accident) when ever I was in a van loaded with people, and it leaned to one side, I had a panic reaction due to the accident. It didn't go away until I realized that it was just my brain's involuntary reaction to the accident, and I kept reminding myself when I got in vans of that fact. It wasn't long after that the phobia went a way.

When I was an electrician on a construction project, I nearly had a fall on a very tall ladder. Again, I had developed a fear of ladders after that for about three months, but used the same technique to overcome that fear as well. Personally, I think its natural for us to develop that type of involuntary reaction when something tragic happens. Sometimes we can get over it quickly, sometimes it takes a bit longer.

I used to fly for my old job every week for over two years. In all the flights I've had, I only had one close call where we were coming in for a landing and just getting ready to touch down and the pilot pulled up at the last minute, full thrust. It turned out that in the bad weather, there was a jet on the same runway getting ready to take off. He told us over the intercom exactly what happened a few minutes later. Thank goodness for good pilots, and apparently it wasn't my time to leave this world. Because of that, I have a fierce dedication to Delta Airlines and wont fly another carrier, not because of fear, but because I am thankful for them. In the end, when its time, its time.

This is a good video that is related to the subject.

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Loved that video.....faith absolutely does make a difference..

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Love the topic. Great ice-breaker for someone new like me.

Just joined the forums today. I was wondering if an "introduction" is requested for all new members and what forum do those go in?

But, back on topic:

Wasps: I was stung by this huge black wasp when I was a little kid. I was climbing on this big dirt hill behind our apartment and I happened to look down at my leg and this wasp landed on my calf and proceeded to sting me. You know those cries/screams of terror that start deep down and take a while to get out? That was me. It really traumatized me. To this day if one buzzes around my head I cringe, duck and run away. It is almost involuntary.

I don't like heights, but I don't think I would call it a phobia, just an awareness that if I fell, that would be the end of me. But that is more like a healthy respect for being high up in the air.

I don't know how to do a backflip and the though of doing one kinda scares me.

I think that about covers it.

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Do you have any phobias? Like irrational but very rational to you fears? I am claustrophobic, aquaphobic( I can go swimming in water that I can see the bottom of no problem otherwise) and musophobia (fears of mice and rats specifically but I extend it out to anything small and furry) I have reasons why but I would faint in writing them out but what are yours?

I keep pet rats and have for a few years now. Wonderful pets - smart, clean, fun personalities. You can put them on your shoulder and let them run down your arms. They will even chase you if you let them out on the floor. Rats are excellent pets.

I have no phobias. I'm not fond of bugs, but I don't freak out around them. I'm not fond of heights, so I'm cautious but not to the point of losing function or control. I like spiders, flying is fine, crowds - I love being around people so that isn't a problem. Germs - just wash your hands and you'll be fine.

I am fearless. ;)

H.

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Mine is birds. Especially smallish birds, but even chickens make me nervous.

When I was 11~12, the stake asked my father to manage the welfare farm until they could find a full-time replacement for the man who'd just left. Dad was a rancher in his youth, and for the next 15 months, so were my brothers and I. Dad got us a bunch of chicks to raise, eventually for eggs and meat. When they were small, it was no problem to feed and water them: throw the mash into the little coop and watch 'em go at it. Later, though, they needed more attention, and we'd have to go into the coop to gather eggs. It was not uncommon to have one of the biddies attack us, and often it was more than one. (Cleaning the coop, too, was one of the tasks we we allowed (and even encouraged) to do every week, but that's not part of the story—maybe another time.)

Earlier, however, when I was 5 or 6, our youth indoctrination center, Riverside Elementary School, was "overcrowded", and we had split shifts. My sentence was for the afternoon shift, and I was incarcerated from 1:30 to 5:00. One afternoon, when they allowed us out after serving the allotted time for the heinous crime of being 5 years old, I got to the front door, but my mother was out. While she was gone, a sparrow had flown down the chimney. She'd left the blinds down. When I opened the door, the bird, seeing the light, flew out. Unfortunately, I was still in the doorway, and it hit me full in the face.

Ever since that day in 1954, I can't stand birds, except on my plate (preferably with dressing and sauerkraut).

Lehi

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I'm rather shy with people I don't know, so public speaking tops my list. Typing to complete strangers doesn't seem to affect me the same way though.

When I was young, I had a bee fly right up to my ear, and almost enter the canal. Since then, anytime there's any kind of buzzing near my ears, I'm sent into an involuntary squatting fetal position with simultaneous rabid swatting around my ears/head. Over the years, I've also received stings from bees & yellow jackets, which has made me afraid of them to the point that I can't be within arms length of them.

My mom & aunt are deathly afraid of spiders, and instilled this same fear into me at a very young age. This culminated to a point when my dad brought home a tarantula embedded in in a glass cube as a paper weight. My mom went into a flat out panic (my dad tried to show it to her which kinda turned into a chase around the dining room table), and sent me into a panic with her. After that, even seeing a little itty bitty one across the room would freak me out. I've since been able to calm my fears down enough that while I still don't like to physically touch one (actually, I don't really like any creepy crawlies touching me, even if I'm otherwise fine with them in the room), provided it's not a big hairy one, I'm ok with one being very near me. I can even squash them (as long as I can't feel them directly or indirectly when I do it). Boy scouts summer camp had something to do with this--Summer camp was in Pennsylvania, and daddy long legs were EVERYWHERE. After a couple of years of spending a week with them, I was able to keep from jumping out of my cot in sheer panic because of a DLL chillin' on the tent wall above my face.

I once had a mild form of claustrophobia, which I became aware of in two cases, one where I was little, and wrestling with my dad, and in the struggle, I got caught and wrapped into a blanket in a way that completely bound my arms. This sent me into a panic, and I had to be helped out. That same feeling of panic also came when I was spelunking with my boy scout troop, and we had to crawl through a very tight and long horizontal crack. You know in movies like The Mummy, where the ceiling descends down to the floor, and the guy has to crawl out before it crushes him? that's what this felt like. It was very unnerving, but I was able to control myself better that time. That was the last time I felt that though.

Beyond these, I can't really think of any other phobias that I have.

-I love heights (though perhaps more leery of the landing part), used to BMX, cliff dive, etc.

-Being a boy scout & regularly camping prevented me from ever becoming a germophobe.

-I'm a scuba diver, so I love water, the deeper, the better. However, I can totally understand why you guys are afraid of water with a bottom you can't see. I once went scuba diving in Grand Cayman, at one of my favorite dive sites to date, called "The Wall". Huge coral reef with a "canyon" in the middle of it, and you swim right through the canyon; it is very fun and pretty, some of the clearest water around too (clear as a pool). The canyon leads you out to the end of the coral reef which is nearly a perfectly flat vertical wall, and where there was floor & walls visible to you before, now it's just all blue, with nothing visible in sight, save this giant coral wall that goes as far as the eye can see in either direction as well as down to a deep blue abyss. That awesome sight did make me feel a bit small & naked, so I can understand the feeling.

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What is a phobia? A false fear?

My greatest fear is the fear of being misjudged by others. A.D.H.D. was often misdiagnosed as something else in my life, and thats probably where my fear comes from. I had some thoughts this morning on the subject ....

All this week I've been thinking about rather deep subjects including how we reach out to others and how we protect ourselves from physical and social harm at the same time. A good friend of mine said, there will always be some conflict, even between friends. My friend is a lawyer and has a verbal skill set and a silver tongue like no other! Perhaps our hesitation in reaching out is that we expose our weaknesses (perceived or real) and fear the prejudice of others. Elder Russel M Nelson said, when quoting Luke, “In Luke 21, the earth shall be in distress.... Men's hearts failing them for fear. What we are seeing is the prediction that men's hearts are failing them in these latter days because they forget their identity and their purpose. Be patient with yourself, perfection comes not in this life, but in the next life. Don’t demand things that are unreasonable, but demand of yourself improvement, as you let the Lord help you through that he will help you make the difference”

Edited by Messenger
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I keep pet rats and have for a few years now. Wonderful pets - smart, clean, fun personalities. You can put them on your shoulder and let them run down your arms. They will even chase you if you let them out on the floor. Rats are excellent pets.

I have no phobias. I'm not fond of bugs, but I don't freak out around them. I'm not fond of heights, so I'm cautious but not to the point of losing function or control. I like spiders, flying is fine, crowds - I love being around people so that isn't a problem. Germs - just wash your hands and you'll be fine.

I am fearless. ;)

H.

I hate your Ontario Guts! just kidding-but sick...sick.............................................sick!

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Mine is birds. Especially smallish birds, but even chickens make me nervous.

When I was 11~12, the stake asked my father to manage the welfare farm until they could find a full-time replacement for the man who'd just left. Dad was a rancher in his youth, and for the next 15 months, so were my brothers and I. Dad got us a bunch of chicks to raise, eventually for eggs and meat. When they were small, it was no problem to feed and water them: throw the mash into the little coop and watch 'em go at it. Later, though, they needed more attention, and we'd have to go into the coop to gather eggs. It was not uncommon to have one of the biddies attack us, and often it was more than one. (Cleaning the coop, too, was one of the tasks we we allowed (and even encouraged) to do every week, but that's not part of the story—maybe another time.)

Earlier, however, when I was 5 or 6, our youth indoctrination center, Riverside Elementary School, was "overcrowded", and we had split shifts. My sentence was for the afternoon shift, and I was incarcerated from 1:30 to 5:00. One afternoon, when they allowed us out after serving the allotted time for the heinous crime of being 5 years old, I got to the front door, but my mother was out. While she was gone, a sparrow had flown down the chimney. She'd left the blinds down. When I opened the door, the bird, seeing the light, flew out. Unfortunately, I was still in the doorway, and it hit me full in the face.

Ever since that day in 1954, I can't stand birds, except on my plate (preferably with dressing and sauerkraut).

Lehi

you and Mumsie should start a "I hate Birds Club" she HATES birds. She was raised on a farm and had to go into the barn and they had swallows and owls that we fly around and she was afraid they would land on her and so since then she doesn't want anything to do with birds. Funnily enough that Hitchcock Movie, "the Birds" She saw on a date once! but she hated it and the guy too

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i have a huge phobia of sand (Eremikophobia) even as a child i couldn't stand the sand. which is not a good thing when you work in a nursery trying to keep calm can be a real challenge sometimes. i cant deal with anything to do with sand even the thought of sand makes me cringe and gives me cold shivers. but i really enjoy the beach ironic right.

i also have a hugely irrational fear of ferris wheels. it stems from when i was a child. but i freeze and shake.if it is really bad i cant move for a while too. i go all cold and clammy.just looking a feris wheels makes me feel nervous. i cant go near them. it totally ruins the mood if you are at a fair ground. i make an excelent bag holder.

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i have a huge phobia of sand (Eremikophobia) even as a child i couldn't stand the sand. which is not a good thing when you work in a nursery trying to keep calm can be a real challenge sometimes. i cant deal with anything to do with sand even the thought of sand makes me cringe and gives me cold shivers. but i really enjoy the beach ironic right.

i also have a hugely irrational fear of ferris wheels. it stems from when i was a child. but i freeze and shake.if it is really bad i cant move for a while too. i go all cold and clammy.just looking a feris wheels makes me feel nervous. i cant go near them. it totally ruins the mood if you are at a fair ground. i make an excelent bag holder.

very interesting phobias! thank you!

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