Scaredy Cat

David came to a realization last night. Most likely something he has known for a long time but chose to ignore. He realized that I am scared of EVERYTHING. My brothers call it "Axe Murderer Syndrome". One of David's little brothers is fond of telling me, "DON'T LIVE, YOU MIGHT DIE!" when he hears me panicking about something or other.

David challenged me to list all the things I am scared of. Generally, after making a list like that the scaredy cat would try to work on overcoming some of those fears. I don't think I am going to do that. We are just going to marvel at the number of my fears. This might take a few posts.

Thinking about all the things I am afraid of made me want to quantify my fears. Some of the things I am going to list are phobias. Some stuff I am semi-afraid of. A lot of the items are related but just because I am afraid of "natural disaster A" doesn't mean I am afraid of "natural disaster B". David mentioned some things he thought I was anxious about but really I just don't like. For instance: squirrels (they have diseases) and being pulled over (cuts into my shopping time).

This all makes me wonder how did I get to be so afraid? I don't remember being a daring or a scared child. I wouldn't say I lived a sheltered life. I guess fear is irrational. Especially when it can't be explained like most of my fears.

Phobias:

Hydrophobia
-drowning
-swimming in the ocean
-anything but shallow water

Arachnophobia
-mostly big spiders

Melissophobia
-bumble bees, wasps, yellow jackets
-anything with wings and a stinger

Agoraphobia
-traveling alone
-air travel, airports
-plane crashes
-walking alone
-crossing busy streets
-driving a car
-being away from home and my stuff for long periods of time

Severe Weather Phobia
-rain, hail, sleet, snow, ice
-wind
-thunder
-lightning
-tornadoes

Achluophobia
-mostly nighttime darkness

Acousticophobia
-noises at night
-sometimes loud music
-cars driving down the street (Then I get freaked out when no cars drive down the street so go figure.

I could go on and on and on with the phobias. Some of the listed items have their own phobia name like fear of crossing streets is "dromophobia". Whatever I did some condensing. Plus, you can make up your own phobia name by just adding "phobia" to the end of the word of your choice. For example: being afraid of Britney Spears could be called Brit-Britphobia.

We will continue this list tomorrow or later this week depending on how paralyzed with fear I am.