My irrational fear...
12I have an irrational fear of spiders…
Before everyone pipes up and says that it’s not irrational, let me finish.
I like spiders in general. I like that they eat bugs that bug me. I think they’re cool.
The irrational fear is that some time during the day a spider will crawl into my CPAP mask and I won’t know it. At that point I would turn it on and blow the spider directly into my nose.
I always start my CPAP before putting the mask on in the hopes of blowing out any unwanted visitors…
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I have an irrational fear. I’m not sure where it started, but I’m afraid of biting down on a fork the wrong way and breaking my teeth
Also, I’m afraid of financial ruin. That’s not irrational though, is it? Right? Guys?
@capguncowboy
I don’t think either fear is irrational. It hurts to bite wrong on a fork and most people are one disaster from financial ruin.
@capguncowboy I didn’t know it was possible to bite down on a fork the ‘right’ way…
I have a rational fear of intersections.
Edit: My irrational fear is probably bees. Got stung a lot as a kid and as an adult.
@Targaryen
Intersections are dangerous places and bee stings hurt and can cause you to go into anaphylactic shock.
@Targaryen If you got stung a lot, then it’s not irrational. Running from butterflies would be irrational.
@lseeber @Targaryen
I heard once that butterflies prefer drinking blood from open wounds and that mosquitoes actually prefer sugar water to blood.
@jst1ofknd @Targaryen hmmmm.
Don’t watch Arachnophobia.
@lseeber
Good movie. I need to watch it again with the kids.
@jst1ofknd Yep. I watched it 2 nights ago. Again.
I fear deep water to the point that I can’t watch movies with submarines or a lot of scuba diving because it makes me anxious and I catch myself holding my breath. My husband had a sailboat for all of 3 months because we were out on it one afternoon and were “knocked down” and I would break out in tremors whenever the boat got on the lean just a little. He finally gave up when I couldn’t control my arm while holding the rudder. Now we have a Honda Goldwing which he assures me is more dangerous than the boat was but I don’t fear it near as much as the boat.
@tnhillbillygal I got to swim in the middle of nowhere in the ocean. I didn’t think about it at the time but yeah it’s kind of creepy.
I can’t look up at the sky (without anything else in my peripheral vision) without getting anxious. I feel like it’s going to swallow me. Or like I’m going to fall up into space.
@katylava
I have a comic in mind which you’d either like, or get terrified about.
@katylava
Me too. I couldn’t handle kites as a kid because I kept thinking I was going to fall into the sky!
@katylava @qwerty82 Really? I’ve never heard that before.
@lseeber @qwerty82 i think it’s some alternate form vertigo. or maybe just a general disorientation.
@katylava @qwerty82 The disorientation makes sense somehow.
@katylava @qwerty82 it’s like that for me when I’m holding balloons…Not sure why, I may have been traumatized as a kid…
I have an irrational fear of failure…which I know happens…and that’s how we learn and move on…but I am fearful of failing so badly that death is the only way out…
And of being lost…so lost that the GPS tells me I have to move to where I am cause there is no way out…
I am unfortunately on a theme this week…fingers crossed that next week is better…
@amehzinggrace You only fail when you give up trying.
@lseeber I’d agree w/ that for most things…I think my fear of failure is equated w/ screwing up so badly I’m in jail…w/no real hope of getting out…so that’s in a sense game over I guess…not saying I do anything that would send me to jail…but what if I was having a Tucker and Dale kinda day/week…
@amehzinggrace Oh goodness! (Don’t know Tucker and Dale).
@lseeber Tucker and Dale vs Evil - great movie (if you like horror movies?)…
@amehzinggrace Ohh. that’s why I don’t know them. I don’t do horror.
@amehzinggrace @lseeber If you’re having a Tucker and Dale kind of week, I’d highly recommend finding a safe place to hide for a few days. Although it did work out pretty well for them.
I have a fear of things that protrude from the wall at eyeball-height of my spouse or child. I get these vivid premonitions of eyeballs getting totally poked out. Usually doesn’t bother me when they’re at my height. I guess I figure I would just deal with missing an eye.
Whatever you do, don’t do a Google Image search for “nose spider”.
@parodymandotcom
Now I am afraid. Now I afraid that I will do it knowing that it is a thing.
@parodymandotcom I totally looked!
Spiders don’t freak me out though.
I have a fear of being killed by an errant golf ball while walking past a golf course. Also of being killed by teenagers dropping cinder blocks and old computer monitors off of highway overpasses.
@mossygreen as a teenager, I once accompanied some other teenagers disposing of CRT monitors with gravity’s assistance late at night. Not among the smartest things ever, but it is impressive to see the carnage.
The target site was a concrete drainage ditch under an overpass, so you’d have to be out of place to be on the receiving end.
IIRC they owned drop.org and published videos there, way before YouTube was a thing.
@djslack THE FEAR IS REAL.
@mossygreen Many yrs back my sister was driving down the road and her window was down about 8" or so. A guy was riding a lawn mower near the road. He shot a rock out it went thru the window and hit my sister in the side of her head and partly in her eye. She had to go to ER and they had to do a few things to her eye. Fortunately, it all turned out ok but it was pretty bad for a while.
@lseeber It’s all just terrifying chaos, isn’t it?
I’m glad your sister is OK.
@mossygreen Thanks! Me too.
@lseeber @mossygreen good grief that’s horrible!!!
…that one day I might wake up and NOT be an asshole. It’s terrifying!
@mfladd That would be a national crisis, at the very least.
@mfladd
Ooopsie!
spider webs
the spiders are ok though
@miko1 Agree, but only because a spider web implies there is a spider somewhere I cannot see. I’m more comfortable with spiders that I can see vs the thought they may be on my person somewhere due to the spiderweb I just walked through.
The glass floor of the CN Tower in Toronto. Though I have some experience in high places (used to rock climb, work on scaffolds, etc), I could barely get myself to step on that glass floor. Even when I finally did, I stayed close enough to the edge that I could grab something if the floor gave way.
(From Wikipedia - I probably was too nervous to remember to snap a picture when I did it!)
@mehcuda67 Your thought must have been, “what if the architect was wrong?”
@mfladd Definitely crossed my mind. Can’t fool me with 3" thick glass!
@mehcuda67 I wouldn’t like that either. I don’t like in the aquariums the ones that go overhead or in tunnels either. I don’t trust man’s ability that much.
@mehcuda67 Best not then step out on the glass walkway over the grand canyon.
@Kidsandliz @mehcuda67
I want to go there!
@jst1ofknd Yeah so do I. It would be scary but cool.
@Kidsandliz
I would be the guy that jumps up and down on it scaring everyone else (including my wife).
That is if I would, but I don’t jump (or run, or spin in circles, etc.) any more.
@jst1ofknd @Kidsandliz And I"d be the guy (gal) that puts her CCW permit to good use!
@Kidsandliz @mehcuda67 nooooooooope!!! When i went to the Grand Canyon with my grandmother in the 80s, no such thing praise the Lord. I am deathly afraid of heights where i don’t have a wall or floor. Like i used to love reunion tower in Dallas and went up every time we stayed there but i can’t do heights where i don’t have a wall or solid floor. But i can fly just fine. It’s such a bizarre fear.
@Kidsandliz @lseeber
My wife approves of your use of the CCW in that case.
@jst1ofknd @Kidsandliz I like your wife.
@Kidsandliz @lseeber
Me too.
@ivannabc Sounds like you have a fear of falling, not of heights.
@shahnm I love the idea that there are four separate little pairs of jeans with four belts for a spider so I’m going to have to vote for that one.
@djslack @shahnm I disagree. I think there needs to be an in between. Pants on the back 4 legs/that round bit, shirts on the front.
@shahnm omg I love this
@moonhat @shahnm @djslack @RiotDemon They wear them the second way, because they get 4 flies.
@djslack @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon @shahnm good one
@djslack @llangley @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon @shahnm
@eluno
Can your spiders settle this question about spider pants for us?
@djslack @f00l @llangley @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon @shahnm the whole idea about wearing pants is about covering our butts, not so much our legs.
So first one it is.
@djslack @ELUNO @f00l @llangley @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon
Is that a universal thing? Maybe spiders see it differently…
@ELUNO @f00l @llangley @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon @shahnm and what, have a little snap off cover to spin a web like old cartoon pajamas? I don’t think that’s practical…
@djslack @ELUNO @f00l @llangley @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon
I’m not here to judge.
@djslack @f00l @llangley @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon @shahnm Civilized, pant-wearing spiders do not do such primitive things in public. They wait until they are in the privacy of their bathroom.
@djslack @ELUNO @f00l @llangley @mehcuda67 @moonhat @RiotDemon
If they’re in the privacy of their own bathroom, then why are they even wearing pants?
I have an irrational fear when I’m on top of large ladders. I get anxiety that it’s going to topple over suddenly or I’ll slip. That usually only happens when it wobbles. The most annoying thing is The Call of the Void. It’s such a terrible thought that I could just jump off the ladder. Then I think about how my legs would shatter or I’d flip and crush my skull on the concrete. It just makes me queasy and I want down. I don’t know why our brains conjure up these terrible things. I have no desire to commit suicide.
http://pimediaonline.co.uk/science-tech/lappel-du-vide-the-call-of-the-void/
@RiotDemon Interesting article, including comments.
@mfladd thanks. Went back and read the comments.
I check my shoes and slippers for scorpions. It’s not irrational tho. I found one in there once so now I check. Went to grab a pair of jeans off the floor and there was a scorpion on them too. ugh.
@lseeber But aren’t in in Alabama? Where were you living when you encountered the scorpion?
When I lived in San Antonio, we always checked our shoes.
@Limewater North Alabama. Yes. Plenty of scorpions around here. My husband accidentally stepped on one a few yrs back on the front porch (we live in the forest) and that’s the only time I heard him scream.
@lseeber Wow. I’ve lived in Alabama a large chunk of my life and never encountered one. I now live in North Alabama myself, and I guess I’d better start keeping an eye out. Thanks for tipping me off!
@Limewater Sure thing! We ran across them in our wood pile a lot too. Biggest one I ever saw was in Lacey’s Spring… a big, brand new house and there was a huge one in the shower in the master bath (prob about 3" in length). Most around here are usually small tho.
@Limewater @lseeber my in-laws live in the Hamilton Guin area and used to see them all the time when they lived in the house surrounded by woods. Now they live in town so not as many of them. I see them here in South Arkansas occasionally
@ivannabc @Limewater Yeah… I was thinking about it last night. When I lived in Huntsville, didn’t see much. When I lived in the country (both the aforementioned homes) that’s where I saw more. And if you’re not used to seeing them, when they’re laying flat you really don’t recognize them as a scorpion until they raise that tail.
More an aversion than a fear: wooden tongue depressors. This also extends to popsicle sticks - I can’t finish the last bit next to the wood lest it touch my mouth. (I’m actually getting gooseflesh just writing this.)
The last time this came up during a doctor visit, he said he had never encountered this before in 25 years of practice.
@macromeh i have a mild dislike for them, but not really an aversion. they are uncomfortable.
@macromeh How are you with corndog sticks? Or bamboo skewers?
@macromeh I don’t like them either. Always give me the heebie jeebies. I can’t eat ice cream with those little wooden spoon things either.
@medz I can’t remember the last time I had a corndog, so I’m not sure. Bamboo skewers or chopsticks, no problem - probably because they don’t touch my tongue. Wooden spoons - no thank you. It’s mostly a texture thing.
@lseeber @macromeh do you two no like paper towels or pieces of cotton either? Because of that weird squeakiness?
@macromeh i hate the way those sticks feel on my teeth so i don’t ever let them touch. Ive been known to take my Corn dog off the stick lol
@macromeh @moonhat Neither of those really bother me. I go thru a lot of paper towels.
@ivannabc @macromeh Same here. and then I think… splinters.
@macromeh @moonhat Although… I was thinking… every time I watched my husband tear off some paper towels, There was something about the way he did it or something… it sorta made my skin crawl. Maybe since he always tore off more than one and did it slowly and had the rest dryly crumpled up in his hand. Dunno …but it did give me the heebie jeebies.
Sharks in pools, showers, small rivers. Can’t watch jaws but I’ll watch all of the Sharknado movies.
@riskybryzness Maybe that’s why you fear sharks in pools, showers, and small rivers…
@riskybryzness Snakes in toilets?
@shahnm I am blaming it on watching a movie that had a shark burst out of a swimming pool wall at a very young age.
@lseeber, I find that to be a rational fear–but only depending on location. I.E. When traveling through the vast nothingness of Wyoming or Texas and there are signs up saying “watch out for snakes.” I doubt a danger noodle is going to find its way to my house…at least I hope not.
@riskybryzness
Lol!
@riskybryzness
Wait…
Sharks in showers and small rivers, or you fear showers and small rivers even if there are no sharks involved?
I need to know how to phrase my next question.
@PlacidPenguin @riskybryzness Just move on to alligators. It’s easier since they can be in small rivers and if you leave your door open, showers.
@riskybryzness We saw Jaws in the theater. For weeks afterwards I was in full flight mode every time I walked by our backyard pool. Fortunately that particular terror mellowed.
@PlacidPenguin Sharks belong in the ocean. Spiders belong outside. Snakes do not belong in the toilet.
@kidsandliz surprisingly, I’m not terribly afraid of Alligators. I got to visit one at a zoo once, his name was Bob–if you called his name, he’d come up to the gate for his dinner–and you could toss him his food. 10/10 Bob was a cool gator. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable meeting one in a dark alleyway though.
@duodec Yeah, no idea why. Mainly if I’m in the shower, I’m afraid there’s going to be something there when I open my eyes, not necessarily a shark but that’s the first thing my mind goes to because water, I guess?
@riskybryzness
Assuming you don’t fear showers:
What would you do if you saw a shark taking a shower at the bottom of a small river which ended in a waterfall?
@PlacidPenguin laugh
@riskybryzness @shahnm About 2 weeks ago, my niece was going to use the toilet and screamed. Her husband ran in… there was a young possum in the toilet. They have absolutely no idea how it got there. They live in a subdivision. He put on big gloves and fished it out. They put the pic up on instagram. I don’t guess they’ll ever know how it got there.
@duodec @riskybryzness I saw it in the theater also… and lived right near the beach. It was a while before I ever went back in the water.