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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As it turns out, there are a lot of universal fears out there. And the people of Reddit have a thing or two to say. Suck it, Roosevelt. WowADeadMidget asked:
What's your biggest fear?
I haven’t even started this article yet, and I’m already sweating. Let’s dive in.
That would keep me awake too.
“Drowning, getting stuck in some tight place and asphyxiating/dying of hunger in there, or getting steamed to death.
That's pretty much the shared 1st place."
“I'm 34 years old and was very close to drowning last year. Got dumped out of a canoe and was pinned against a tree in a current. I pulled myself out and it took about every bit of upper body strength I had, didn't even really realize the severity of it while it was happening because if my head had stayed under I was done for. A person of smaller stature would have been in very serious trouble in the same situation. I think about it a lot too, usually when I'm trying to go to sleep lol."
A valid fear.
Snl GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy“I choked on a piece of steak home alone a few months ago and had to give myself the Heimlich maneuver. It took 3 tries. I'll never forget my dog staring at me and the thought of my girlfriend coming home to find me dead on the floor of our apartment.
Now I think about that every time I eat by myself. So choking to death alone is my greatest fear."
This is heartbreaking.
“Biggest fear is losing everything I have worked so hard for later in life. I watched my parents work hard do everything right build wealth and then almost towards their 50s my father got sick, lost his job. And now struggle to make ends they had to sell anything that had any value to them.
Now they just go through life with seemingly little enjoyment because they had everything set and in a blink of an eye it was gone and probably never come back.”
This is why you should check in with your friends.
“Being one of those people who dies alone in their home and doesn't get found for weeks or more because they have no one who cares enough to notice they're not around anymore.”
“There was an old man in our vicinity who died like this. Apparently he died on the toilet and been there for weeks in the summer heat with closed windows and doors so the smell was also not noticable to the neighbours. The firemen and policemen brought the body down from the flat in two bags apparently it was already falling into several pieces.
The smell was lingering in the apartment for a few days, one of my friends lives two floors down and he said it was unbearable.”
Let’s go deeper, shall we? Sorry in advance.
Good advice.
Will Smith Memory GIF by STARZGiphy“Memory loss!!! Literally, everything I know in my life is memories.”
“When I started to have memory problems, it super freaked me out. Now it's a little easier. I surround myself with trusted people and write everything down. Memory is important, but if you take care of yourself and find ways to keep them externally it can help a lot. Memory books, notes, friends.”
Spooky.
“Deep water or caves with no light that you have to crawl to get through. So a cave full of water would be the worst.
That or what happened to that guy who was repairing an industrial bread oven when it turned on and he couldn't switch it back off from the inside.”
I’m sorry, WHAT???
“Rabies.
You're fine one moment, and then the next day you have a headache. Turns out you got infected on that camping trip six years ago and it's been hiding in you ever since.
Now that you have a headache, it's in your brain and you're already dead. There's next to nothing doctors can do except put you in a coma and say a prayer, but odds are nearly 100% that if you do survive that you're a vegetable or nearly one.
You experience incredible pain, irrational hydrophobia, manic behavioral changes, and a total loss of motor control near the end. It's got to be one of the most humiliating, dehumanizing and terrifying ways to go, and it can happen just like that.
Rabies is terrifying.”
If that last one didn’t shake you, these next few will. Read at your own risk.
All we can do is stay optimistic.
heaven gate GIF by South Park Giphy“Not being alive anymore - the finality.
I'm not afraid of dying - the act of it, anyway. I'm not afraid of what comes next - I've not bothered myself with that one.
What I'm afraid of is being… done. Here one day, then gone. Not able to do anything else.
I cannot out it into better words, that's how suffocating the anxiety of being gone is for me. Maybe it would be better if I were religious and believed in an after life, but the best I can do is convince myself that I believe your personal energy spreads to other beautiful things in life when you pass. But the mind, the mind just being… done. That is truly frightening to me.”
Don’t watch the latest Purge movie.
“Societal collapse. A climate or economic or disease-based destruction of society as we know it. Every part of normal life ceasing to exist, and every person having to fend for themselves. There's a documentary called 'Collapse' that scared the crap out of me."
"An even more frightening thought is that collapse is already happening, and we just don't have the perspective to recognize it. After the collapse of Rome, people living in Roman territories still considered themselves Romans for a long time, even though the Roman state was gone. Granted, things happen a lot more quickly in the modern world, and that in and of itself is concerning - the rate of change is ever-increasing. What happens to any system that encounters increasingly rapid changes? What happens to an airplane or a bridge or a human being whose rate of change keeps accelerating? They spin out of control until failure.
Climate change is a potentially civilization-ending event amongst several other candidates for bringing about our doom. Nobody has bothered to fix it yet, and even with more mundane problems, I feel that the government has already abandoned us. Just like some poor farmers five hundred miles away from the city of Rome, we cannot hope for the state to come and save us once things break down - they'll be too busy enjoying the last of their feasts, orgies, or taxpayer-funded drugs before the lights go out."
A parent’s worst nightmare.
“The thought of anything/anyone hurting or something seriously bad happening to my daughter.
I once heard someone say that having a child is like taking a piece of your heart and letting it walk around outside of your body.
That’s exactly what it feels like. I don't care for much things, but I would be nothing but an empty shell without her.”
Alright, now that you’ve read all of that, go drink some water and take a nap. It was a doozy.
Now I’m thinking about societal collapse. Great.
Phobias. Maybe it's presumptuous to say we all have one. But when you consider all the fears the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has identified, it can force you really examine yourself and revisit something so fearful, it's been buried in your head somewhere.
Fear of small spaces, spiders, heights, and even clowns. There's a reason why Pennywise was the main antagonist in Stephen King's It. The morbid clown is purely the stuff of nightmares.
Curious to hear about the thing that keeps people up at night, Redditor Green_Own asked:
"What's a weird phobia you have?"
The ASA may not have official names for these paranoia-inducing scenarios, but the following examples make these Redditors tremble.
Tremors And Scalding Liquids
"An earthquake happening while i'm deepfrying or in the middle of draining boiling hot pasta water."
Increase Of Intensity
"I get anxious when a sound get progressively louder, or beeping gets progressively faster, I don't know why."
Boo To The Residue
"Maybe not overly weird, but i get unnatural anxiety if i have anything sticky on my skin, jelly, jam, cola, that kinda stuff. I hate it. I have to get it off instantly."
Safety Measure
"Maybe not a phobia just a little paranoia, I always cover my camera with my finger when I scroll on my phone when using the bathroom, I'm deathly afraid I will accidentally FaceTime somebody."
There is the G-spot and then there is also the nope-spot.
Absolutely no touchy, 'cause these Redditors don't likey.
Portal To My World
"Having my belly button touched. Some part of me is sure you can just push through to my insides right there."
"I can't let my belly button get touched. It sends a physical like 'chill' type of feeling through my whole body. Idk what it is, if I have a whole bunch of nerves there for some reason, but I can't touch it or let anything touch it."
Literal Achilles' Heel
"Having my Achilles' tendon touched by anything."
"I freak out around shopping carts."
These physical or aural environments make some people want to retreat under the bed sheets.
Not So Grate
"Sidewalk grates. like these f'kers. always have an irrational fear that they'll collapse beneath me or whatever."
The Big Bang
"I hate balloons popping."
"I get extreme anxiety when little kids start squeezing them. It's not the volume of the noise, it's the unpredictability."
Labyrinthine
"I'm scared of being in a maze."
"Not sure if this will help but you can get out of any maze by putting a hand (left or right) on the wall/hedge closest to that hand and continuing to walk while maintaining contact with your hand, until you are out. It isn't efficient, but it is effective."
This brings us to my phobia. It's called submechanophobia.
Basically, it's a fear of a man-made object – like a giant building, statue, or shipwreck – that is either partially or entirely submerged in a large body of water.
In Long Beach, California, the retired British ocean liner – the RMS Queen Mary – was an operational hotel and museum which featured a dark room overlooking one of the ship's propellers submerged in a tank eerily lit from below. Guests traversed a catwalk around the perimeter above the tank to marvel at the huge mechanical device.
As a six-year-old seeing it for the first time, I remember being paralyzed while inside the room with my parents. I was genuinely terrified and never understood why.
Years later, I revisited it. I'm still intrigued by it – yet I absolutely remain fearful of it.
After recently discovering the term for my phobia, I felt validated for my genuine fear.
It was strangely reassuring but it will forever give me anxiety just thinking about it.
Okay. We're done here.
Fear of spiders, however, is something I don't feel the need of conquering – even though it is often said it's the spiders who are actually afraid of us. Sure.
Curious to hear about the fears that are actually harmless and worth overcoming, Redditor Philosopher7771 asked:
"What is something you should not be afraid of?"
Building character and strong relationships are dependent upon our interaction with others.
Saying 'Sorry'
"Saying sorry when you're wrong. Integrity is not a weakness"
"And never apologizing isn't strength. It's just being an a**hole."
It's Okay To Reach Out
"Asking for help."
"Yes. Asking for help doesn't mean admitting weakness, and accepting help offered to you doesn't mean accepting pity."
Haters Gonna Hate
"Criticism and not being liked by everyone. They are impossible to avoid so we should just accept them and make the best of it."
Some fears are not psychological. People are truly terrified of the following:
Terror In High Altitudes
"Turbulence on an airplane."
"I once saw an amazing video of a pilot explaining that turbulence is no different than bumps on a road. This might seem obvious to others, but he told viewers to close their eyes while sitting on a bus. It's just as shaky, but we can see the environment and why it's shaky, so it doesn't scare us as much. I've been much calmer during turbulence since then, even strong turbulence."
Things That Are Normal Where You Live But Crazy Anywhere Else | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The Monsters Among Us
"Little kids. Sure they are dangerous but remember you are STRONGER and BIGGER."
It's okay to be upset when something doesn't go as planned. But remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
The following are good reminders to keep going.
Humbling Moments
"Rejection and Embarrassment."
"It will happen to you, in some form or another. Its best to experience it, come through it, and realize it doesn't kill you. I wish I could go back to younger me and show them the truth. It would have felt like a superpower back then when fear or rejection loomed in my mind and hamstrung me."
Picking Yourself Up
"Failure."
"Most of the 'failure' people fear is not even that, it's just part of the trial and error of every process."
"If someone bought Frosted Flakes and didn't like it, they wouldn't consider themselves a human failure for buying it, they'd just know they probably don't like cereals that sweet, or corn flakes, and get something else the next time. The goal is to get something you like for breakfast, not eat Frosted Flakes."
"If you ask someone out and they say no, if you apply for a job and don't get it (or have a job and don't do well at it), if you don't get a good grade on an exam or even in the whole course, if you don't get into your "dream school," these are all the Frosted Flakes. The goal is to date someone you like (and likes you back), to get a job, to get a good education, etc. That's the breakfast."
"Eyes on the prize."
People who don't want to upset others perpetually find themselves stuck in an unpleasant situation.
Sometimes, we've all gotta ruffle some feathers.
Instincts Exist For A Reason
"Being rude in order to remove yourself from an uncomfortable situation. Listen to that little voice in your head that says 'this isn't safe' and don't worry about pissing people off. Took me years to accept that I don't have to be nice to strangers if I feel uncomfortable. Predators look for those kinds of people that are worried about making a scene. My safety is more important than your feelings."
As an actor, the fear of rejection was always something that prevented me from going into an audition.
Eventually, I got used to "performing" in front of panel of people who would determine my fate that day.
I later realized the fear of not booking that gig has prevented me from giving confident performances in the audition room. Once I treated auditions like the actual "gig" my agents sent me on, my confidence level soared.
I just wish I learned earlier that fear is overrated. But hindsight is 20/20, right?
But some of the terrors rooted in reality are scarier.
Whether it's a brush with death after hydroplaning on black ice while driving or being held at gunpoint, they are the stuff of true nightmares.
However, the jury remains out about the reality of ghosts.
Regardless, Redditor Geace_69 asked:
"What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you?"
One of the worst things must be to look down the barrel of a gun as these Redditors did.
Kid With Pistol
"Pistol in my face by a kid no more than 13 years old. I was sure that little f'king idiot was going to kill me."
"Wrong Taxi"
"A guy stopped traffic and walked up to the window of the taxi I was in and pointed a gun at my head through the window. Then said 'wrong taxi', and casually walked away."
"I hope he never found the right taxi."
Cashier At Gunpoint
"I got robbed at gunpoint when I was working alone one night at Subway when I was 16."
Getting Authentic Tacos
"I got stopped by the Cartel in Mexico. I live on the border and we decided to go eat some authentic tacos. My dad, my brother and his blonde girlfriend and I (12) were driving to our favorite taco place when this truck behind us started honking at us. Unfortunately there were 3 speed bumps in a row right in front of us. So the truck got impatient and pulled up in front of us. Then they stopped at the intersection which was right in front of us. Along with another truck that was behind them. And a van. Then, like insects, they all swarmed out of their vehicles with AK's and body armor. They lined up pointing to both out car, and then down the street in the direction our car was facing. 2 guys started smacking the car with the butt of their guns and yelling at us to leave. Then they shot some warning shots at the ground in front of the car. My dad floored it backwards while my brother shoved his white girlfriend into the floor and I tried to become one with the seat. Almost died that day. At least thats what it felt like."
Sound Of Gunfire
"An hour ago. Waiting for an Uber outside in Nashville. All of a sudden, shots fired. Like twenty shots total… everyone runs for cover (where there is little). It happened so quickly, it was hard to know what was happening. Scariest moment of my life, especially knowing that two minutes prior we were standing in a way more exposed location. We were fine, but… nothing on Twitter or the news. WTF."
– stoneguy
Vegas Mass Shooting
"I was in the middle of the crowd at the concert shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 (deadliest mass shooting in US history). Jason Aldean was performing and we thought it was fireworks until he was pulled off the stage. Everyone got down to the ground and eventually I couldn't take getting shot at anymore and sprinted out of the venue, leaving my friends behind. (If you know or Google, he was using an automatic so it was just round after round after round of gunshots, not knowing if/when one was going to hit me or my friends.) Called my parents hysterical to let them know I was okay and walked to MGM. They had triage set up in there, otherwise no one else there had any idea what had happened outside. Finally met up with one of my friends and thought we were safe. Then someone comes running through the casino saying there's an active shooter (there wasn't) so my friend and I darted and got split up again. I am freaking out trying to get a taxi/Uber back to my hotel because I'm thinking there are shooters everywhere now. One taxi kicks me out because I'm screaming to get to my hotel. Eventually I walk a couple blocks and am able to flag down a Lyft and get to my hotel. As I'm walking through the lobby, they announce they are shutting down the entrance to the hotel for safety so I sprint to the elevators to finally get to my room before they shut down elevators too. Spend all night not sleeping, unable to comprehend what had happened. Still triggered by gunshots."
These Redditors recount the times they were asked to be taken to the ATM. And not in a very polite way.
Unwelcome Passenger
"I stopped at a light in a questionable part of town and a strange lady hopped into the passenger seat of my car. She told me to drive her to the ATM and get her some money...I told her that I had forgotten my purse and could not do so (my purse was behind my seat and I was really hoping she wouldn't look around and catch my lie). She kept insisting that I give her money and I kept driving and telling her I couldn't... I'm pretty sure the $20 or so dollars I had in the bank would not have been enough anyway."
"Finally I saw a cop car stopped on the side of the road. I pulled up behind it and told her she could either get out then, or I'd start honking my horn to get the cops attention. She decided to leave."
"I was pretty shaken by that... I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't seen the cop and she was getting increasingly insistent and I know I would not have won a fight with her."
"Also... She took my bag of gummy worms."
Crazy Historical Events That Sound Fake But Are 100% True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Drive To A Construction Site
"Something similar happened to my friend's dad. Guy got into his car, pointed a gun at him, told him to drive to an ATM, and pull out money. The dad was scared shi*less, but seemingly, calmly agreed. He drove the car to a construction site nearby, hoping that the workers would be on duty that day. Fortunately, they were and the dad, driving a luxury car, looked so out of place that a bunch of the workers started watching him. The dad then told the guy, 'You can either get out of my car or you can shoot me and have a dozen witnesses. Your choice, but you're not getting money from me.'"
"Guy with the gun got out of the car and ran off. The dad called off work that day and went home to spend time with his wife and kids. My friend said she had never seen him so freaked out before in her life and he made sure to tell them all that story so they would be able to do the same in that sort of situation."
– rivlet
Sometimes, a brush with death is caused by fate and not by gun-toting lunatics.
Out In The Elements
"I was driving on the northern part of the ring road in Iceland. Buddies and I were seeing the whole country and it was bad weather in the middle of winter. Roads were closing behind us so we couldn't turn back. We finally had a clear day ahead of us where we should have been able to drive and prevent being snowed in for a few days. We hit a stretch of road with no gas stations for many miles and we fill up on gas and go. Along the way the weather starts declining and eventually it gets to white out conditions. We couldn't stop for fear of being snowed in. so we crawled along at 10 miles and hour. Closest I felt I ever came to dying on a road in the middle of nowhere in Iceland in a blizzard. great trip though 10/10 would go back"
Swerving Towards Death
"Me 17, on a rainy day with slippery tyres went through a corner too fast. Two friends in the car with me. Lost control, car swerved, we missed on-coming traffic by probably an inch. It happened in an instant."
"I regained control when the car was pointing in the driving direction again, by lifting from the brakes so we moved forward as if nothing happened."
"A week later going around the same corner an accident happend, head to head. I was second on the scene, and held a strangers hand as they are trapped under the steering wheel. Slipping in and out of consciousness, in total pain, while waiting for emergency services. I was asked to leave by the police when they learned I was not an eye witness to the actual accident. But I knew what happened, because I escape a crash like this just a week before. I never asked people what happened to the people in the other car and I do not know if the person I assisted made it."
"All I do remember is the total chaos in my memory of arriving at the scene, linked to my irresponsible behavior behind the wheel a week before."
Carnival of Fear
"I was 14 I think. Went on a swinging boat ride at the fair, the kind that pause upside down. The auto locking seatbelt bar didn't lock all the way down against me, so when it stopped upside down I started to slip out of my seat. It probably only lasted 10-15 seconds until we went down again but I was holding myself into that car for dear life. Pretty scary, but it didn't kill my love of roller coasters!"
– cynth81
Shortness Of Breath
"About two years ago, I had severe bronchitis. Severe coughing and shortness of breath were the main symptoms. I couldn't talk without coughing. I couldn't lay down to sleep without coughing. It got so bad one night I was home alone and I couldnt breathe deeply anymore. I could only take a shallow breath. My roommate was out of town and I had no one to reach out to. I started getting panicky because I was afraid I wouldn't ever be able to breathe normally again and that I would die because I couldn't breathe or catch my breath."
Fever Dreams
"I had a pretty high fever once and i started to dream. I vaguely remembered having a choice of saving earth or destroying it and for some reason I destroyed it, woke up feeling so guilty I seriously contemplated jumping off the roof. Made me realize how crazy fevers can be."
Pricked And Spared
"Was stupidly free climbing a big rock in Sedona and lost traction and just started to slide down and couldn't stop myself. There was a small ledge with a cactus on it beneath the rock and then a drop of at least 100 feet. That cactus stopped me and likely saved my life."
Waves Of Death
"I nearly drowned. I was swimming way out in the ocean when a really bad storm came out of nowhere. I was a strong swimmer but it didn't matter. It felt like my lungs were on fire and being shredded with knives. There was so much sand in the water that I couldn't see; I figured out which way was up by being slammed into the seafloor and swimming in the opposite direction."
"I was underwater long enough that I lost consciousness and my last thought was 'I'm going to die now and nothing will ever hurt me again.'"
"When I came to, I was being dragged up the beach. I coughed and vomited up what felt like more than a litre of sand and seawater. Every time I blew my nose for weeks afterwards more sand would come out."
Friend For Life
"I was walking down a sidewalk, just about to cross a trolley track."
"My friend pulled me back, and the trolley drove on just a few feet ahead of me. Really saved my life."
"Taught me to keep my head up, and look both ways, no matter how sad or down I'm feeling that day."
My brush with death continues to haunt me and I still count my blessings.
Years ago when I still lived in Los Angeles, I barely avoided a head-on collision with an eighteen-wheeler – presumably driven by a drunk driver – who was swerving in and out of their side of the road at around 10:30 p.m.
I was blinded by the headlights, and as the truck came careening towards me, I steered the wheel at the last second and my vehicle's rear was clipped by the truck.
I spun out of control and luckily managed to not collide with the parked cars on the street.
My car was not drivable after that hit-and-run incident.
But I sure was glad my life was spared that night. I have never been so scared in life until that moment.
For the record, I'll take being haunted by ghosts over these brushes with death anyday.