Phobias

How's this for weird?
I cringe to pieces to the point of me not being able to walk when I see anyone kneeling on a hard floor, esp. concrete. I have to shut my eyes to be able to walk past! It makes my knees seize and I hobble-walk!

 

Im with you on the touchng slugs one Zig

 

Heights. Worked on 80ft scaffolding before for long periods and had to cling on to dear life whenever a bit of wind hit it!

 

Just seen this

 

i have two one is the usual one spiders

the other one would be to walk around a corner straight into blood relatives

 

Zigs, I get what you mean with the cathedral vs scaffolding thing I think. I'm absolutely fine with heights as long as I 100% trust whatever is preventing me from falling. When I've been out walking in various places, I can walk fine along paths just a few feet away from a sheer drop if that sheer drop is solid rock, but I have to work really hard to fight back the panic if the path takes me along a cliff that is largely mud. Huntcliff not far from me is one such example. The Cleveland way goes over it and I've walked it many times, but I always try to take the path that is several yards from the edge rather than the quickest one, which when I last walked it got as close as about 1 yard from the edge (I hear its been rerouted inward a bit since I last walked it though). Parts of the Pennine way take you along rocky ridges of similar height. They don't phase me at all because solid rock isn't likely to fall away just because it rained once, whereas mud sometimes does.

 

This may interest people.
http://phobialist.com/

 

Cliff paths and roads with sheer drops on the side, as others, not the height but the fear of falling. Not too keen on spiral staircases either.
Snakes and spiders I can handle with ease.

 

Think you've hit the nail on the head Dave, its not the fear of heights, but something inbuilt that makes us wary of unsafe surfaces, whether thats a rotten branch, bog or crumbling cliff.

I've been on overgrown lakes in the mountains, where the moss has covered the entire surface, but you know the lake is still underneath and if you slip thru, no one is ever going to find the body

I lost it with an old ladder that was full of woodworm in a church tower in Dorset.



We had our new ladder but it didn't quite reach, which required me trusting the old one for the last few feet.

 

There are some seriously strange phobias on that list!
Gardeners beware. Make sure you don't develop Anthrophobia (fear of flowers), Dendrophobia (fear of trees) or even Lachanophobia (fear of vegetables).

Zigs, glad to know I'm not the only one with a thing about wasps. At least we have a name for it now (Spheksophobia).

I've noticed something of a common theme on here, in that several people have found themselves developing a fear of something which had never previously bothered them at all.

Same thing happened to me, when a few years ago I was negotiating an 'indoor maze', a fairly simple thing made of wooden panels. I couldn't find the way out and suddenly experienced an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia and had to get out of there sharpish.
It didn't help things much when, a few weeks later I got myself locked inside a toilet which had a faulty lock.
I'd never suffered from claustrophobia before in my life, so where did all that come from?

Wonder why it happens, this apparent development of a fear which didn't previously exist?

 

I think it's something that just 'kicks in' Trunky. With the exception of my fear of guns, my other fears developed soon after having my children. Perhaps it's something to do with the protective instinct we have for our children, the fear develops as a warning to keep them safe.

 

I would be pleased to say I have none
Uncomfortable yes but fear no
The worst so far was in an underwater boat, that is fine
Only this time I was an exercise injured person
They put you in a Holger Neilson stretcher (that is a stretcher like a straight jacket, where you are tied in) and had to take me to the sick bay

What kicked in there was your arms and legs are tied, so you can not do anything at all to save yourself, Not a phobia but very very uncomfortable putting your life in the trust of someone else

Though I have no problem with a dentist or hospital putting me under for surgery ?

Jack McH

 

Have a very bad phobia of frogs and toads. Which stops me from having a pond in my garden. However my neighbour has a frog pond and they seem to like burying themselves in my garden now.