What rattles you?
Oct 31st, 2008 by spaceagesage
As I write this, it is Halloween, so a good time to unload your scariest moments, your phobias, your current political fears, unease at the future, or anything else you want to get rid of.
What grabs your heart and mind and makes them a little numb with fear and why?
I don’t fear spiders so much anymore, but did you know almost half of women and only 10 percent of men have arachnophobia (fear of spiders)? My biggest fears are more social ones than those of nature, government, or creepy critters like the eight-legged ones. Scariest moment? — Not being met by my contact at the Madrid, Spain airport after flying there alone when I was 19.
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Photo credit: speech path girl
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Mine are health-related fears: serious illnesses and the physical deterioration that comes with aging.
Scariest moment: a health scare that turned out fine but made me go through the emotions of possibly being diagnosed with something serious.
Not being met by my contact at the age of 17 at the Zurich airport!
I’m good with spiders, snakes, mice, etc.
A fear I refuse to dwell on, but rears it’s ugly head every once in awhile? One of my children dying before me. I QUICKLY ditch that thought process.
For myself? Not having enough money to live comfortably when I get old. No idea why that one freaks me out so much. I guess I need to ponder that somewhat.
I agree with Verid about health-related concerns.
I also had problems making contact when I was in Europe. In my case it was at the end of my 7 months there my junior year in college. I was staying in a youth hostel in Brussels and my sister and her husband were supposed to meet me one afternoon on the steps of a church. Then we were supposed to drive to Scandinavia for a week, and they would drop me off at the airport in Copenhagen. They didn’t show up for 24 hours and there was no way to reach them. So I waited until dark, then went back the next morning and waited until they finally showed up in the afternoon, as cheerful as could be. They hadn’t had troubles… they were switching apartments and decided to do the moving before they went on the trip. They didn’t apologize, couldn’t even see that it had been a problem. Needless to say, I never relied upon them for a ride again! 🙂
Hi Vered,
Those health scares are no fun! Glad it turned out OK.
Hi Urban Panther,
Zürich — ha! Did you have to also find the person and calm them down?
Hi Jean,
You, too?
My contact, who was in his 30s, had been robbed of passport, epileptic medicine, and all the return home plane tickets for some other students, so he had blown me off completely out of panic. I eventually got to the American embassy and fortunately the same person helping him was helping me. The lowest time of the ordeal was calling the embassy from the airport and being hung up on when I couldn’t stop crying.
One of my biggest fears is of dying in a car crash — don’t know why that one freaks me out so much, but it does.
Scariest moment — losing our son when he was a toddler in a park that had a lake. The few minutes it took us to frantically run around and find him felt like eternity, and when we saw him safe & sound my legs nearly buckled under me.
Urban Panther, I often worry too that if anything really bad ever happens to our son to maim or kill him, I don’t think I could go on with my life. ***shudder***
Hi Linda,
I can’t imagine how it felt to go through the emotions not being able to find your son for awhile!
Love does seem to come with the thorns of the rose.
@Linda – I too lost my son when he was little and was convinced he had drowned. Those were the longest seconds of my life.
Hi Lori. I’m terrified of wasps! And, when I went camping this year I was careful to keep a watch for any curious bears too.
Hi Davina,
Wasps do look wicked and dangerous, don’t they? Bears fascinate me, so I’d probably grab a camera and get closer.