Spiders. I've forced myself to handle them, but the fear keeps coming back.

Losing the ability to control myself, especially through mental illness.

Being subjected to the whims/control of others.

driving unknown freeways sometimes causes me to panic, but you know what really scares me? Really, do you know?! Its that feeling that I sometimes get out of nowhere, often on a summer night outside but ocasioanally inside too. Its usually when Im alone, but occasionally with others (especially around a campfire). It seems to be spontaneous and happens after ive been in that place for a while. Ive also felt it walking down a darkened street. It doesnt happen usually on a snowy night and I attribute that to more light.

I usually look to see who is there even though I know there is no one. Its unnerving, and deep.

Im sure its chemical, but it still can chill me. Maybe Im just afraid of the dark.

Hm, one of my fears is getting in some freak accident that leaves me laying on a bed half dead due to how much it messed me up. I rather be put out of my misery than live like that.

Falling off a ladder.
Stepping on a bee or wasp.

Done that. The worst part isn't the pain, it's feeling the bee squirm around under your foot.

Failing my wife and child, being less in their eys, losing their respect.

This has never been a particular fear for me, just an uncomfortable feeling, that is until this past monday when it almost happened to me. The concrete barrier I was next to on my left doesn't have more than a three foot shoulder. I was also going around a curve at 70 mph when the semi in the right lane moved about 2 feet into my lane. I drive an '88 lincoln town car and was about a car length back from his front end, not exactly hard to see. I was forced almost into the barrier before he moved back into his lane.:eek:

I don't know if the idiot was changing lanes and saw me in time or was just drifting but I saw my life flash before my eyes and was so shocked I didn't even think to lay on the horn. Asshole. I'll stick to the right lane from now on driving that stretch everyday.

As for my fears, like many of you I am freaked out by spiders and being in deep water but not debilitatingly so.

My worst two fears are death, either my own or my husband, father or sister (I worry constantly) and heights. My fear of heights is so visceral that I can get that "dropping" butterfly feeling in my stomach just seeing a person on tv on a precipice. The famous photo of the steelworkers walking the I-beams while erecting the Empire State Building makes my knees feel like jelly.

We were watching "Man Vs. Wild" the other day and I could barely watch Bear Grillis scaling the hills while traversing the Badlands. *cringe* That man is just plain crazy. I have many nightmares where I'm in some precarious position and I am losing my grip and am going to fall (I usually jerk myself out of sleep before I do). One recurring one is weird, I'm driving on a wooded road going uphill and it gets steeper and steeper until I'm almost completely vertical and eventually the car peels backward off of the road and falls (jerk awake again). Yeah, can you tell I really hate heights.;)

I fear heights but not in a debilitating way. I have difficulty with ladders or with steep stairs and narrow steps, those awful stairs in old houses built for people with miniature feet and some stadium stairways.

I can't say I do real well with snakes but it isn't so horrible.

I do have one phobia however of water after nearly drowning. I can swim alright, float lazily on a river but the fear I feel when faced with sudden submersion is terrifying. Don't toss me into the deep end or off a dock or I will drag you in with nearly drowning you in the process.

Ever since I had an accident I have been scared of driving on the freeway, and also fearful of getting lost. I haven't driven the freeway since, and am nearly petrified driving somewhere I don't know well.

I would have preferred to have scuba gear on! But, I was snorkeling, choking on the sea water, and watching it just go right underneath me. I would have loved to had gear on so that i could swim underwater with it/beside it and etc more easily. It was just too much to jump in the water and immediately find myself on top of that damn thing! WHOA!

I suddenly realize that I am naked. I am so scared whehter people will see me. I wonder where my dress has gone. I woke up to realize that I am dreaming. But when I experience that fear is so real. This dream has occured several times from childhood to even now sometimes.

Well, if I was in the middle of the ocean, alone, without a boat, I'd lose my shit.

Politicians make me very uneasy, almost fearful, because they make me feel like I'm not in control whatsoever.

Loneliness and time scare me every-so-often, but then they go right back to not being factors. Those depend more on my mood at the time, I suppose.