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Hey Pandas, What’s An “Unreasonable” Fear To Most People, But Not To You?
We all have fears that others might brush off as silly, strange, or even irrational — but to us, they feel very real. Maybe it’s escalators, balloons, deep water, clowns, or something as simple as making a phone call.What’s that one fear of yours that others don’t quite understand, but you know isn’t unreasonable at all? Share your stories (and maybe a laugh or two) below!
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#1
Spiders. Snakes. I'm totally chill with spiders and snakes. It's the needles that Drs use that gives me the w*****s...
Final score:
4points
RELATED:
#2
people touching me, not like, inappropriate touch (which is a very valid fear) but the fear someone is going to touch me.
every time I meet a new person (or think of it) I fear they are going to try and hug me or tap my shoulder. while I'm not completely adverse to touch (I'm autistic but high-mid functioning) I do get a little freaked at sudden touch.
Final score:
3points
Lene 2 months ago
Yes! Touch can be the worst. I have three kids and am usually very open to their hugs and cuddles. But sometimes it's like my skin just can't cope with any touch and I have to tell my kids that today mommy doesn't like to be touched. It is heartbreaking and I don't want to be like this. But I also want to be a happy mom and if that means that for a few hours or a day here and there, my kids need to not touch me I think that's the lesser evil. If they do touch me anyways I get into this weird state of panic and I tense up and yell at them. 😔 makes me feel like a horrible mom. I try my very best to cope and teach my kids to respect not touching me when I ask them to. Because I want to remain a happy mom.
#3
Being alone, dying alone. I'm autistic, and that's what i want.
Final score:
3points
Lene 2 months ago
Ah yes. People look at me in a strange way when I tell them that I enjoy being on my own. For days ans weeks, even. (Not happening now that I have kids, but before bf and kids I was alone a LOT!). Folks, there's a big difference between feeling alone and feeling lonely. You can also be around lots of ppl every day and still feel lonely.
#4
Being placed in a 100% prone position for anything medical, such as dental cleaning. I have run out crying from an attempt at getting braces. I have been given extra anaesthesia when arguing with an eye surgeon over lying flat for a cataract removal. I simply cannot handle it!
Final score:
2points
DC 2 months ago
Have you considered being knocked-out a bit more severe? For the more intensive works on my teeth, I use Valium. I fell asleep during a root tip removal, even. Not that this would work for everybody, or that one should carelessly dump them pills whenever at the dentist, but if it enables you to receive treatment, I think it justifies the risk. Risk of being äddicted ... that doesn't just happen by taking them every few days for a few weeks, this happens by taking them every day, multiple dimes a day, trying to smooth out any and every inconvenience. If you're sure you're not gonna do that, give it a thought. There's other medicine that might work, too. Have a talk with your GP about it, if necessary.
#5
People.
When you encounter an animal, it usually has a fairly simple thought process that essentially boils down to one of:
1, Argh! Human! Run!
2, Dinner is served.
3, Come near my babies I will tear your internal organs out one by one.
People are not like that. They'll be all smiley and friendly while stabbing you in the back. Or they'll vocally wish for you to die because your presence offends some ideal that they hold on to. Because they're jealous of something you have or are, because they can't tolerate anything different to themselves, or maybe because it just amuses them. But, overwhelmingly, simply because they have been brought up to fear the unknown and the unknown is anything that isn't like them.
Better yet, these fears are malleable. A person can end up hating somebody they previously liked because somebody *else* told them lies.
So, people. That's my unreasonable fear.
Final score:
2points
#6
So I am rather confused about the question, as worded. If I am afraid of A, and a friend of mine is also afraid of A, am I supposed to judge them on that fear?
For example, I will never skydive, which is a reasonable fear. But how I I supposed to judge that as unreasonable to another?
I would suggest that the question is really what fears do you have that you share with others and how do you find them unreasonable.
Final score:
2points
#7
Used to be spiders, but now 100000% cockroaches. After having one of the big ones crawl up under my blankets and cuddle up next to my arm (the barbs on his legs made it feel like he BIT me) I get pins and needles EVERY TIME I'm trying to sleep. Now I prefer spiders to cockroaches, cause the spiders we have are Huntsman spiders, sure they're big as heck but their bites are harmless. Roaches on the other hand spread diseases so I am definitely keeping Mr. 8 legs creepy crawly over nasty as hell roaches.
Final score:
2points
#8
I can't walk on vent grates in the sidewalk - I have to walk around them. My brain knows that they are (probably) safe, but something inside me believes that I will fall through. It terrifies me to walk on them.
Final score:
1point
#9
I'm afraid of dolls and mannequins. Last night I had nightmares about dolls again. Even as a child I had nightmares about dolls and I often had nightmares about a certain rag doll that my grandmother gave me as a gift. The doll tried to strangle me while I was sleeping. It was so bad that I finally taped the doll in a plastic bag and threw it in the trash in the morning. I was probably afraid for half a year that it would come back. I'm also afraid of mirrors and had to sleep one night on a vacation in a room with mirrored doors in the closets the entire width of the room, or I didn't sleep but was literally afraid of my own reflection in the mirror the whole night. I have no idea where I got my fear of dolls because the Annabelle or even Chucky movies hadn't come out.
Final score:
1point
Rick Murray 2 months ago
Uncanny valley perhaps? They look sort of like children but different enough to be, well, creepy. Most dolls are no big deal. Barbie is a comical waste of plastic, and those Corolle ones are almost cute if oddly proportioned. But those old fashioned big ones with the ceramic heads and (real?) hair? OMFG, that'll surely keep a child in nappies until adulthood (and maybe then lead to the traumatised adult making films about possessed dolls 😂).
#10
Needles don't bother me. If I ever had any fear, it dissipated during my 3-month stay in the hospital.
Final score:
1point
Rick Murray 2 months ago
Needles totally bother me. My mother reckons it may be some sort of memory of having a needle stuck in my spine as a baby (meningitis test?). Either way, I have told a dentist to drill the tooth without deadening it (it rather less polite language) as the injections were more problem than the drilling. And I really hope I never have to go into hospital for "reasons". If I ever wake up and see a butterfly on my arm, I think my first subconscious reaction would be to pull it out. Just thinking about it gives me the heebeegeebees. I need tea.........
#11
Some of the things that don't bother me much but get to others: Talking to large groups, snakes, being out in the bush at night, emergency situations, being alone. Some of it is just the way I came from the factory other bits are due to training/experience. All good as long as spiders aren't involved :P
Final score:
1point
#12
I have two. Large crowds make me uneasy. As a teen, the deaths at the 1979 Who concert from crowd surge made me realize the dangers of crowds with limited entry/exit points. I also fear escalators. Always feel like they will eat my feet at the end.
Final score:
1point
Rick Murray 2 months ago
Allow me to unlock your second fear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Rome_escalator_accident Veritasium recently did a video about it, it's kind of gnarly.
#13
Singing or reciting lines in front of 3,000 people alone during my 13 years of public school without a hint of fear or discomfort which I save for tiny spiders.
Final score:
1point
#14
I, for some reasons, have phobophobia, but for other people, If I see someone reacting to their phobia, I have a breakdown
Final score:
1point
#16
Well, I just picked up a wolf spider from the bathtub. A little larger than usual, this monster was almost as big as my hand (note: I live in France, not Australia!). I carried it outside, placed it on the wood pile, and told it that this was a more appropriate place for spiders than stuck in a bathtub.
It raised a leg as I walked away, I like to think it was saying thanks.
My mother, on the other hand, used to scream "Riiiiiick!" if she saw any spider-shaped thing that wasn't a cooked crab. Hmmm... ;)
The UV lamp by the kitchen door catches the moths, and the spiderwebs catch the flies and mosquitoes. So... I'm okay with spiders.
Final score:
1point
#17
Lawnmowers. Those things terrify me and shoot chunks of grass and wood chips in every direction, not to mention the horrendous amount of noise they make.
Final score:
1point
#18
Getting my haircut. Something about the sound of the clippers, and a stranger all up in my personal space. Stressed me out so much. I need a pint or two afterwards to relax me.
Final score:
0points
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het (Submission author) 2 months ago
I just realised I read the question wrong, for some reason I read it as an unreasonable fear I have.
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