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I don't know why it is that certain fears flair up out of nowhere. I've always been afraid of subway train tracks and platforms. I keep being afraid someone will push me on the subway tracks off the platform and the train will com eand I'll end up touching the THIRD RAIL. So when I go to NY in 2 weeks I'll avoid the subway like the plague. It's such an irrational fear and usually I can just ride the subways (here in Boston) and just stay far back until the train comes, but now I feel like if I ride the NYC subways I'll end up crying in the middle of the Lexington platform. I just don't get that. Or the social phobia thing. It drives me up a tree.
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Perhaps it is, but this is a super irrational phobia. What are the chances of falling onto subway tracks?
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What are the chances of gravity failing and you floating up into all that awful scary horrible huge space? (Agorophobia if I remember correctly)
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quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: What are the chances of gravity failing and you floating up into all that awful scary horrible huge space? (Agorophobia if I remember correctly)
My best friend has this fear. He refuses to look up when he's outdoors because of it. He's also afraid of heights - verticals just aren't happy for him in general.
Syn, I haven't been to Boston to compare, but the New York subway platforms are nice and wide, so it's entirely possible to keep your distance until the train gets there. And if it happens to be a busy time, you could stand closer to make sure you can get on the train, but also keep a few other people between you and the edge so they could be a hypothetical shield in the very unlikely event that you fall.
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I feel an irrational relief every time I make it over a bridge. I guess that means I have the irrational fear of bridge failure.
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Syn: I totally hear you on the subway track fears! My nearest station is in a poor district (Garfield for those of you from Chicago) and it attracts a certain amount of crazies and thugs.
I am absolutely petrified of worms. Even writing this sentence made me cringe.
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Nooo. Some of them are really, really narrow. Like the lexington one... It's so narrow. The worse are the ones when you're between a platform and two trains hate it hate it hate it And sometimes they fix the platforms so you just get this tiny little narrow space. FEAR.
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Worms I don't mind... or caterpillers I hate... fly larvae EW. THEY MAKE ME ITCH! and I feel so NAUSEATED.
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That's true, I forgot about those. Perhaps you could just avoid those stations? If that's on the 4-5-6, getting off one station early or late would only mean an extra 10-15 minute walk.
Out of curiosity, does a fear of heights play into the subway phobia? I'm generally okay with heights, but I still get twinges when I have to walk through those 2-foot passages by the platform edge. Of course, I do have a fear of falling, so maybe that's why.
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I have an irrational fear of homework. Just the thought of writing essays keeps me awake at night. How I loathe this judgmental world of academics!
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I have a needle phobia. Whenever I try to give blood, my pulse shoots up to 135 and the last time my temperature went up a couple of degrees as well. Grrr. Also I get really antsy and nervous and upset when people read over my shoulder.
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Having OCD, I have all kinds of irrational phobias.
I'm very afraid of crunchy things in my sandwiches. For some reason, this makes me feel like I'm eating bones, and I'm afraid that the bone marrow is going to give me a disease.
This applies even when I'm eating sliced turkey breast and cheese and olives, if the olives have a tiny piece of the pit still in them. I will be unable to finish the rest of the sandwich.
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I am afraid of grates or vents in the ground. Even if I can see the bottom of them, I am creeped out too much to walk on them. If I am walking through a parking lot or a sidewalk with one, I will completely avoid them and I won't let anyone with me step on them either. I'm weird, I know.
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Is social anxiety caused by unpleasant social interaction, or does social anxiety cause unpleasant social interaction?
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Karl, when I was younger a friend and I were playing with dandelions and drawing pictures on ourselves with them. During recess, a bee flew up my pants and stung me and bit me several times. I had a bit of an allergic reaction as well. Combine that with seeing the movie My Girl shortly after and a phobia developed. Somehow, my fear of bees has dissipated a ton since my childhood but I still feel nervous and go out of my way to avoid dandelions touching me. I know its irrational and that all flowers have the same potential but only dandelions make me feel sick.
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I'd must rather take the bus. I am also afraid that a nuclear holocaust could ensue while I am in the subway. WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN THAT? At least if you above ground you'd go in seconds, not like being buried. And the subway tracks are so DIRTY from men whipping it out and peeing and folks throwing their garbage. just thinking about it is creaping me out. Having subway dreams just doesn't help. I hate walking on grates too. It makes me think I'll fall in and break something.
It seems to be a combination of both. I'm dreading getting married because I don't think I could spend my wedding hiding in the closet fromt he people I know... It's gotten that bad.
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When I was a kid, I used to be afraid that everything around me was a dream, and that when I woke up, my life as I knew it would disappear.
Now this is a very irrational fear for a four-year old, so God, in his mercy, sent about 500 Texas Cockroaches to visit my family, and I developed a more rational fear.
Btw, if you've never seen a Texas 'roach, don't go out of your way to find one. They're big enough to own property.
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Rats. I loathe them. Even mice freak me out, but rats are evil. I actually got sort of hypnotized once in an effort to cure myself of this rat phobia, and all that happened is that my fear is now layered over with deep, deep, disgust. Rats. Yeugh.
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When I was little, the local high school held swimming lessons in their indoor pool. I always thought my instructor was tall enough to touch the bottom. The markings 12'6'' didn't mean anything to me.
One day we got there when they were cleaning the pool and it was being drained. My little self beheld a cavernous EXPANSE at one end of the pool and for several years after that I avoided deep water like it was out to get me.
At 21 years, it's not as bad, but I still get the jibblies. I'm wondering if it's the big black lines too...they LOOM underwater. O.O
Another little one I have is for "any force applied to the inside areas of my joints". Maybe I watch too many martial arts movies.
Is there such thing as a rational phobia?
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I always thought that fears and phobias were something you grew out of, but my phobias are so much worse now that I have kids.... I think it's because I'm responsible for keeping them safe too, and with 4 kids, that seems increasingly unlikely.
I hate going over bridges. I've always had a huge fear of drowning, but I swim really well so it never really came up in everyday life. But now the thought of going off a bridge and having to get myself and my 4 kids out of the seatbelts and up to safety is obviously impossible, and I obsess about it and white-knuckle it in the inside lane every time I go over. It's silly because there are so many other things that I also can't control and keep them safe in, but I just go, "Oh, that probably won't happen and if it does there's nothing I can do about it." But going off the bridge and drowning? Eek!
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I'm afraid of inclines. When I was younger, I couldn't even ride escalators. Now my fear mostly applies to roller coasters, slides, and small hills. Don't take me hiking.
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I'm afraid of falling, which makes me afraid of heights. The freaky thing is, I love climbing up anything- walls, trees, I even climbed a basketball pole.
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Well... I do have all of the Def Leppard CD's down here... and a few of the Platinum album plaques...
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I wouldn't call my tags interesting.... They are more a badge of honor that I will wear when i start touring again....
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