Irrational Fears Thread

A similar thing involving keys happened to me years ago at a water park in Wisconsin Dells.

We put a bunch of towels, clothes and snacks in a locker and my wife had that key, but for some reason I kept my keys (car, home, etc.) in my swimsuit pocket.

Sure enough, we get done taking a few laps around the “lazy river” with the kids and I realized my key ring is gone. I walked through the entire ride without an inner tube and somehow found them sitting on top of a drainage grate on the bottom.

 

Any social gathering that isn't family or doubles tennis.

 

I am very afraid of fire. I don't go near grills or firepits. I hate fireplaces. I didn't light a candle until I was about 30.

 

One day when I was a kid I was peeling a potato. It slipped out of my hand and down into the garbage disposal. I instinctively reached for it and my mom started screaming at me before my hand when into the disposal. Since then, I have the same fear.

 

This is my fear too. I have a recurring dream of not being able to brake and I go careening off a bridge or overpass. I get very nervous being on certain, not all, overpasses.

My Cali friends should know the interchange going from south 680 (just as it turns to North 280. Chew on that for a minute) to south 101. It’s the highest of the 4. When I’m on it stuck in traffic, I get worried about earthquakes.

Bridges too. I have visions of losing control and having no where to recover. And that water is not friendly to landing.

 

To add, I get social anxiety. Doing something new or going to a new place (usually restaurants and not so much cities, for whatever reason) I get anxious. I usually need someone else to suggest a place rather than me pick.

It also gets bad when I have to call someone. The two careers I’ve chosen have been horrible for this. Using the phone requires 10 to 15 minutes of getting the courage to dial.

 

Driving over bridges or on elevators in skyscrapers though I've done both plenty.

 

I've had vertigo for about 30 years. I get tingling in my feet, even while watching TV and seeing parachutists jumping out of a plane. The bridge on I-80 over San Francisco Bay, you can see through the bridge. I was terrified and got over it by staring at the bumper of the car in front of me. There is a stretch as you go through the Cajon Pass coming back toward San Bernardino where if you look to the left, there is nothing there. That is freaky for me, too.

The other real fear is car batteries. I have experienced two explode. One was in the Astrodome parking lot late after a game. The press box usher used to drive us back to the hotel. His car wouldn't start. Somebody had jumper cables. One guy clamped the cables to the battery and is nearly slipped off. He told me to hold it. So I grabbed it and made sure it was secure, then, luckily for me, I backed off. BOOM! Sucker blew up and I would have gotten it right in the face if I was still holding the cable clamp. The other time was in a bank parking lot. My car wouldn't start. I had cables. A guy helped me and he had the battery blow up on him, fortunately, just a little acid spray that he was able to wash off quickly.

 

I once dropped the keys to a rental car in a storm drain. It’s a long story, but I was able to retrieve them with a stick after somebody else dropped a flaming piece of paper into the drain so I could see them.

 

You are not alone. Every day at work I park in a lot across the street from the office that has a storm drain at the entrance. I'm juggling a bookbag, laptop bag, coffee cup and my keys. And every time I walk over that storm drain I have this horrifying vision of my keys dropping out of my hand or pocket and down that drain.

 

I don’t ride on elevators. I’m extremely claustrophobic.

 

When I was a kid we used to fish for carp.

Can a corn away you go. They fight and run to shore so reel in or they'll snap the line.

Rode our bikes, when we got older drove.

This time, I drive, my friend asks for the car keys. Toss it to him.

I'm standing on a bridge piling. The keys are on on a bottle opener from my grandfather.

He comes back, yells to me, tosses the keys.

I found the same bottle opener on eBay a while back.