What keeps us up at night? Often we are thinking about the goals we want to reach, reliving conversations of the day, and sometimes, in the way that happens after dark, dwelling on our biggest fears.
We hear a lot about the irrational or wild fears people have when in reality there are things in our everyday life that are just as, and sometimes more, terrifying.
Redditor camoman7053 wanted to know:
“Forget irrational fears, what's yours perfectly rational fear?"
A scary thought…
“Aneurysms. I've lost 2 relatives to it. I've briefly talked to someone who has survived and recovered from one and it sounds like you're better off to just die from it than try to recover.” damnthatriver18
It could happen so suddenly…
“Irresponsible drivers.” Acolyte_5
“Seriously. You can just be going along, minding your business, driving the speed limit and obeying traffic laws, and BAM, some reckless a**hole comes outta nowhere and ends your life. Completely out of your control. That is terrifying.” serious_iniquity
Don’t look down…
scared jason paul GIF by Red BullGiphy“Heights. Just trip and you die. I have to cross the highest bridge in my country to get to the store on my bicycle... only a small metal fence between me and the awful depths. I die on the inside every. single. time." DoctorWhoTheF*ck
The vegans will outlive us all.
“I'm afraid I will make poor health choices as a younger person that will decrease my quality of life in my late 50s-death.” TheMimesOfMoria
“Don't worry I made great life choices, got a few injuries I would have no way of preventing and now I'm mess too. My teeth are pretty okay tho.” ugh_as_iff
Poverty hits hard…
“Living in poverty or being homeless. They say that money can't buy you happiness. But it sure can buy you freedom.” MimikyuMimikyu
“Money is a proxy for resources. It is the food in your mouth, the clothes on your back, the roof over your head, and what you need to get a college education. Since money is a proxy for resources, and we need resources to live... well... it kind of IS important.”
“The whole ‘money isn't everything’ line is what business owners tell their under-paid employees. The shame is that we started telling it to ourselves.” TiredOfDebates
Spelunking anyone? Anyone?
cave GIFGiphy“Getting stuck in a small hole in a cave head-first with no way of moving your arms or legs and nobody nearby able to hear your cries for help." Altruistic-cry-3041
“I got stuck trying to exit a cave through a small hole for 15 minutes. Most terrifying part was realizing I could only breathe about half a breath and could just feel the walls stopping my chest from expanding. Was able to calm myself and wiggle out slowly ripping my jacket to shreds in the process. Gave me mild panic attacks for weeks after." hopscotchmcgee
A fear many have…
“Dementia.” RayAnselmo
“What's more frightening is that eventually, as neurological deterioration progresses, you won't even realize what's wrong with you. You'll simply be confused, paranoid, and scared constantly.” SlenderByrd
Failure…
“That I'll fail one day. That I might be fired, and won't be able to get another job. That maybe ends won't meet and I can't make them, or that an opportunity will be offered and I'll be too ignorant or stupid to take it. I just really, really want to be able to live life to the fullest instead of living in a run-down apartment with no job and empty cupboards.” LoserSkadoodle
Bad dreams and sleeplessness…
“Sleep. Almost every single night I have some kind of vivid dream that's not so pleasant, wouldn't call them full blown nightmares but I wake up so drained and it prevents me from having the battery charged and just being able to have the mindset to tackle the day..” harshreality35
“That I'll forever be left with no aspirations or real motivation.” Cool-Boy57
“There aren't any animals that scare me much. I've gotten mugged. Nearly fell to my death and was saved by a small pile of snow. Had to drive on top of a mountain filled with the most slippery mud I'd ever seen on a narrow path with a giant cliff right beside me. But none of these scare me as much as this right here. It's terrifying to think that it's entirely possible that I may never find a goal that will satisfy me and make me happy.” grimjack123
These are very real and valid fears that many users were able to relate to. It might feel like you’re alone in your worry but others are scared too.
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Unlike introverts who tend to shy away from engaging in random discussions, those who are comfortable–or too comfortable–in their own skin love to get all chatty.
That doesn't mean they have anything significant to say.
"What’s the weirdest thing someone casually told you as if it were totally normal?"
People whom you don't know tend to overshare as these Redditors experienced.
A High Request
"A story from a friend - in Colorado, someone once asked, 'Could you watch my wolves, I can pay you in weed.'"
"There's a lot to unpack in that question!"
– surlymoe
"You don't unpack wolves, you keep them together."
– hwarang_
Unsolicited Prediction
"Husband (30) and I were pushing our shopping cart out of the grocery store when a random man (who honestly looked like dumbledore) looked at my husband and said 'take my hat, you're gonna need it, you'll be bald very soon.' Obviously my husband didn't take it. It was super odd of him to say because my husband had a FULL head of hair."
"Three months later, my husband was diagnosed with a condition that made him lose all of his hair. Weird coincidence."
– hollyjollyaf
Self-Casting
"A guy once told me how he loved the feeling of wearing casts, so he'd put casts on himself- for days or weeks on end. Even if it meant he couldn't drive and would be stuck at home the entire time. He'd use vacation time just to wear full leg & arm casts."
– Present_Dust_2308
Homophobic Homosexual
A homophobic guy I know: 'Being gay is a choice.'"
"I said something like - ok, choose to be gay for a day, an hour, a single minute if you can."
"Guy - That's easy, I'm attracted to men all the time, I just choose to only like girls because I'm not gay."
"Me - Ummm..."
– discostud1515
Longheld Grudge
"Once, an older woman came up to me on the street, took hold of my wrists and simply said 'they ripped out my afterbirth', and then carried on walking."
– JennyW93
"It's strange to grab strangers. But one day in Walmart, my granny walked ahead of me, and reached to grab me to show me something, without looking and she was pulling on an old lady's arm obliviously, and the old lady's eyes were like O.O."
"My grandma didn't even apologize, she just let go and yelled at me to stay closer."
– chzygorditacrnch
A Hairdresser-In-Training
"I was getting my hair done this last weekend by my daughter at her cosmetology school. One of her fellow students was excited to meet me. She talked nonstop and eventually told me that she has hemorrhoids and that she has her husband push them back in. So much TMI from a stranger!"
– Digjam823
You never know about the personal lives of people you see on a regular basis.
Squeaky Clean
"I had a college professor on the first day of class say that she is obsessed with Q-tips and cleaning her ears and that her family has to limit her to 3 a day-"
– lokeilou
Here's The Story...
"That they have 6 kids, all with different dads & each dad is in prison."
– ChyCgx2
"I once had a coworker who had seven kids with five different women and he'd constantly complain about how most of his paycheck went to child support. You uh, dug your own grave, pal. I'm really not sympathetic to your plight."
– apocalypticradish
It's the end of the world as we know it.
End Of Civilization
"I know a guy, we don't talk often but due to business we cross paths on occasion. More or less every time we talk he asks if I'm ready for the total societal collapse coming next week, or Tuesday, or at the end of the month.. and so on."
"I just tell him that it's not gonna happen; he usually then asks about my "crystal ball" so I remind him that I've been right every time."
– rkpjr
Zombie Apocalypse
"I went to a ComicCon type event in my city years ago(Walking Dead was a new show, first season for reference) and went to a panel about zombies. They talked about historical zombie lore, the first zombie movies, and the exciting first season of the new show Walking Dead, with some actors on the panel. When they opened it up to the audience for questions one of the first ones was, 'what kind of zombies do you predict we’ll have in a real zombie apocalypse? (Fast vs slow)'…panelists don’t really know how to answer, each gives their personal favorite or worst case scenario. Then we get to, 'What do you think the timeline is for the start of a coming zombie apocalypse?' Panelists are kind of like….? Talk about how things usually play out fiction."
“'No, but exactly WHEN do you think we’ll need to be fully prepared for zombies in real life?' Like, guys, these are actors and media studies academics, first of all they don’t have the level of belief you do and second, the people you should be asking about this stuff are probably biologists."
– AlternativeAcademia
Whenever I feel threatened by a homeless person who is pressuring me to hand over them cash, I tell them, "I''m allergic to corn."
The random phrase throws them and in the brief moment they assess what they heard I'm afforded more time to distance myself from them.
It always works, especially when they realize I'm all kinds of crazy and not worth targeting.
