In theory, we're supposed to outgrow our childhood fears and settle nicely into a slow burning existential dread like a proper adult.
In theory.
In reality, some fears just stick.
No matter how old you get, or how much math you do to convince your anxiety that it's probably NOT going to happen... some things just stick.
Reddit user iron_horse_ asked:
"What's one thing that still scares the hell out of you no matter how old you get?"
When I was young, my dad's car spun out on an overpass while I was driving with him. I was sitting upfront because there wasn't much of a back seat.
The car came to a stop facing the wall, the windshield framing the long fall that we could have taken. Just a few more inches forward. If he had been going just a little bit faster ...
It's probably not a coincidence that my first actual panic attack happened as I was driving on an overpass on a rainy night.
It just stuck.
Here's what "just stuck" for Reddit.
The Stairs
"Walking up the stairs at night when all the lights are off downstairs."
"No matter how hard I resist, I always end up sprinting."- metee_agar
michael douglas stairs GIF by Justin
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Overboard
"The thought of being dropped in the middle of an ocean."
"I'm terrified of the emptiness."
"Nothing but water stretching into the horizon in every directions."
"Treading water and wondering if you should even try to swim or give up and let yourself sink into the ocean ... and to God Knows what that lives there."-jmongevida
"When I was in the Navy, I'd look out at the sea and it wasn't too bad most of the time."
"There are people watching out in every direction all the time, and there's usually someone working topside to keep an eye on you when you fall in."
"But even the THOUGHT of falling overboard at night is terrifying to me."
"It is damn near pitch black, so even the people watching at night won't see you, and you'll just sit there watching the ship's lights fade into the distance, knowing they'll never find you in the dark."- MS-07B-3
blue planet oceans GIF by BBC America
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Mirror Mirror
"Often times when I'm washing cleanser off of my face, I fear that when I lift my head to look in the mirror, there will be a stranger/monster/axe murderer suddenly standing behind me."
"I've had this paranoid thought since I was around 7 years old."-juliannedattas
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Lights In The Dark
"Small, red lights in the dark."
"My TV has one that’s always on, but not many things do anymore."
"It makes me extremely anxious and on guard."
"Maybe that I’m being watched?"
"I can’t really explain it and I’ve pondered why get all wigged out for a hot minute."- SpoolBus6Oh
Im Watching You GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
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Sleep Situations
"I can't sleep with my back to the door."
"I saw a movie as a kid where a girl was sleeping with her back to the door and someone came in and stabbed her in the back."
"Also, the closet door has to be closed because there are monsters in there at night."
"I will still occasionally jump into bed so the monsters under the bed can't grab me."
"A dark house, I flip on every light as I walk through."
"So I guess this means I'm afraid of the dark? *Sighs*"
"I'm 47. I guess I won't be growing out of it anytime soon."- r_ylenia
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Spiders
"Spiders."
"God damn spiders."
"Big ones, small ones, fat ones, skinny ones, all of them."
"They keep me awake at night thinking about them."
"The idea that there is probably at least one hiding in my room somewhere at this exact moment freaks me the f*ck out."
"I once punched my sister in the face for putting a fake one on me."
"When I was a kid, I was going to take a shower and a daddy long leg came crawling out of the drain hole."
"I puked from the fear and didn't take another shower from the next 2 months."
"Spiders can all die in a fiery pit."
"They're all gross and disgusting and I hate them."- aizen_vx
The Floor Is ... Crabs?
"Bathing in lakes and seas."
"Once, as a small kid, I went for a swim in the sea only to discover that the ground was covered in small crabs."
"I'm not talking 50, I'm talking thousands of small crabs that would be everywhere where I put my feet down."
"I was stepping on them, they were scrambling over my feet."
"I couldn't touch the bottom without touching a crab."
"Now I hate to go swimming if I cant see the bottom."- LakeTop7461
bbc one crab GIF by BBC
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3:33
"It's bizarre, but it freaks me out when I randomly wake up at 3:33am or happen to notice the time at 3:33pm."
"I think it was some Exorcist movie when I was a kid. I just look the other way like 'nope not noticing this devil sh*t!' "
"The funny part is I'm agnostic."
"Mom was catholic, though, and quite nuts so this may have played a role in my legit fear of demons, even if rationally I don't think they're real... Probably."- Otherwise_Flan_7854
Scared Bruce Campbell GIF by Ash vs Evil Dead
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Just Bots
"The Dead Internet Theory"
"It's getting scarier and more obvious as we get older."
"The theory is that internet 'died' somewhere around late 2016 to early 2017 and is being discreetly replaced by bots designed to selectively challenge or reaffirm your opinions to maximize engagement."
"This is also supported by the spread of link rot and content drift."
"Read up. It's not as tin-foil-hat at you might be thinking."
"People massively undervalue their intuition these days, and are quick to play the tin-foil-hat card when something like this is brought up."
"If something feels off, it usually is."- Spxders
Robots Free Yourself GIF by The Chemical Brothers
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Fire
"Bushfires."
"I live in a very bushfire-prone area."
"It was made super clear growing up how awfully terrifying fires are."
"They kill. It isn't quick and painless."
"An extremely intense wariness and fear of them has always been deep-rooted in my mind."
"Just the sight of smoke on the horizon makes me nervous."
"God forbid I see it on a hot and windy day."
"F*ck fires. So much."- No-Acanthisitta423
Virtual Reality Fire GIF by The Weather Channel
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Stairs Again
"Heights, glass railings, steps/escalators and especially around children."
"As a small child I fell backwards down a escalator and managed to catch myself before a point at which I probably would have died."
"It still scares me today."
"All I saw was the mall floor and glass railings as I fell."
"My ex husband had a little cousin that died on steps."
"It really bothered me - he was a gorgeous, happy little kid and I spent so much time around him."
"He happened to fall a day after we spent time with him." - ChineseChaiTea
Chris Hemsworth Movie GIF by NETFLIX
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A Very Hard "Grudge" To Shake
"Kayako."
"The dead woman from 'The Grudge' movie."
"I know it's irrational, even for being in my mid 30s and how absolutely tacky that movie and the originals are."
"But her face is so creepy."
"It's so dumb, but it still weird me out."
"Its nothing racial, just her specific face weird me out."- bohemianjb
Consider Public Transport?
"My wife's driving."- Agreeable_Mango_1288
Always Guaranteed To Be Unpleasant
"Vomit."
"It’s called emetophobia, and it’s not just gross."
"It’s terrifying."
"It’s scariest when it’s my daughter."- barredowl123
Vomit Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
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Who Would Really Expect Them To Hurt So Much?!?
"Stepping on lego."- Confused_Magpie
Stranger Danger
"That when i'm alone at night I'll look out into the back yard and see the silhouette of someone/something looking back at me."- Belerophon17
Anticipation...
"Opening a can of biscuits."
"Peeling back the piece of paper waiting for the can to pop gives me anxiety."
"I have this irrational fear it’s going to burst open and eviscerate my hands."- BurntToasterWaffle
What Waits On The Other Side?...
"The doorbell."
"Doesn’t matter If I’m watching my postmates driver on the map, it spooks me every time because it’s a murderer."- dooropen3inches
Height...
"Really high bridges."
"Driving over them scares the sauce out of me."
"Not the ordinary ones where I live, but ones like the Mackinac Bridge, the George Washington and Verrazano Narrows in NYC, the Grand Island bridges near Buffalo, etc."- The_Sanch1128
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Peeing On It Won't Help...
"Stepping on and getting stung by a jellyfish in the ocean."
"It happened to me once as a kid and I'm still extremely careful out swimming at the beach."- Iya_Taisho
Peer Pressure
"Being judged by my peers."- english_rose86
Welp ... Reddit has just given me a bunch of new stuff to lose sleep over at night. What about you?
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
Disney World GIF
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.
