what is it you fear?

[file cabinet]

I was driving to do something recently. I was going to do something I had not done in a long time, after the anxiety subsided, something seized me... and it was fear.. fear of the nothingness and emptiness inside of me and in this world.... a misc haunting fear.

[euterpenc]

I'm afraid of rejection and failure. I want to live life perfectly, flawlessly. I'm afraid of making any mistakes, that would show me to be not perfect.

[Eileen]

failure and insufficiency

[MaroonBells]

never gave that any real thought... guess I am afraid to admit I have fears...

[cathmc]

I had a conversation with my sister once about fear of death. It was interesting that we were afraid of it for very different reasons. I find the idea of just not existing anymore absolutely terrifying. She is much more afraid of the possibility that there IS existence after death, and it's harder/worse than this life.

[Shai Gar]

myslef, and doing dumb things

[Birdsnest]

Manipulators
Psychos
Narcissists
Homelessness
Poverty
Death
Mal intentions
Biological warfare
Germs
People with strong competitive needs
Strong religious convictions and feelings of any type, for instance Goth, Catholicism to the T, because I prefer spirituality to religion normally, and I
feel all those rules they follow were done to hook people and make them fearful and pay the church and be bonded to it. Real spirituality doesn't need a church or a group, it only needs a walk in nature.

[jyakulis]

not ever doing anything notable
being a failure

[purple13]

appearing stupid
speaking in groups of people
showing emotions
failure
success
snakes
heights
pretty much anything on "fear factor".
etc....

[Ka.avik]

Nah. I'm OK with being an unnoteworthy failure. Instead I'm afraid of being next to the dark. In the dark is OK with me, but next to, say, a darkened window? No thanks, I'll sit over here...

[AcidGoethe]

I'm afraid of hairy women

[Architectonic]

Its all encompassed under one name:

Fear of failure.

[Spartan26]

- Failure, too.

- Being stuck where I am now in old age - though things for right now aren't so bad. I guess it falls under fear of failure.

- Being alone

- Wandering around work with my pants around my ankles mumbling about lost episodes of Match Game

- man's escalating violence toward his fellow man, a general loss of sanctity/respect for life and individuals

- That I'll forget Mother's Day

[Bill_Zenn]

I'm afraid of my mommy. :blink:

Norman? :shock:

Just kidding...

[Miss Anthropic]

I'm afraid of hairy women
As you well should be!

[PsiKik]

I was driving to do something recently. I was going to do something I had not done in a long time, after the anxiety subsided, something seized me... and it was fear.. fear of the nothingness and emptiness inside of me and in this world.... a misc haunting fear.
Wow, this sounds ominous, positively scandinavian in it's darkness.

With some more embelishment this could be the introduction to a very dark novel or movie.

[CENTIPEDE HEAD]

The first sentence of your post "I was driving.." contains what is my worst mortal fear. I loathe and fear the fact that my life and livlihood is so contingent on getting around in a car. I see the little wooden crosses along the sides of mundane streets. People, often the innocent and undeserving, die so suddenly in cars and for what? Nothing. Most of the time it's probably that there had been a light rain and they lost control on a slickened asphalt road. Possibly, they daydreamed for one second too long and just messed up, pulling out in front of something. Maybe they were distracted with a phone call or switching a CD in their CD player. I can think of so many scenarios, all of them chilling. I see a car as a would-be twisted metal coffin, something that can "bundle a person quite quickly into eternity." And even if I or a loved one don't die in a sudden car accident, there could be serious injury. And if not that, I believe I will be put in the poor house by vehicles. It is so expensive to buy, maintain, and insure the god damned things. How I long to live a life free of vehicles.

[T.J.]

The first sentence of your post "I was driving.." contains what is my worst mortal fear. I loathe and fear the fact that my life and livlihood are so contingent on getting around in a car. I see the little wooden crosses along the sides of mundane streets. People, often the innocent and undeserving, die so suddenly in cars and for what? Nothing. Most of the time it's probably that there had been a light rain and they lost control on a slickened asphalt road. Possibly, they daydreamed for one second too long and just messed up, pulling out in front of something. Maybe they were distracted with a phone call or switching a CD in their CD player. I can think of so many scenarios, all of them chilling. I see a car as a would-be twisted metal coffin, something that can "bundle a person quite quickly into eternity." And even if I or a loved one don't die in a sudden car accident, there could be serious injury. And if not that, I will be believe I will be put in the poor house by vehicles. It is so expensive to buy, maintain, and insure the god damned things. How I long to live a life free of vehicles. They are the bane of my existence.

I used to have a persistent fear of dying in a car crash. On a highway somewhere in the heat and the noise - trapped. Bleeding to death. An uncomfortable, aching, unpleasant, not peaceful and satisfied with myself sort of death.

It got better when I did some of the things I had wanted to do before I die - travel, become more confident, have choices. Also when I had a more scenic drive to and from work.

Of course the easiest way of it is to live in a city with decent public transportation.

[Geek Engineer]

Being rejected or invalidated... If you didn't already suspect or know... :blink:

[T.J.]

Responsibility.

[CENTIPEDE HEAD]

It does seem like an awful way to go, indeed, because it happens so quickly.
One false move and BAM! Or you might be doing just fine and the other guy in the oncoming lane makes a bad mistake. If you're lucky, you won't know what hit you.
But the idea of lying there in your own blood, concious of it all, seems a horror show. Or what if it involved your loved one? Your child? What if you were too weak to be able to help get them out of the car or get help? The fears can get exponentially bad. Sometimes I think of the senseless, stupid, unjust things that happen when people turn vehicles into weapons through their own distraction-with their emotions or with intoxication or whatever. The best approach though, is the one you took. If you drive in cars, get your spiritual work done now. Come to terms with it. BE READY. The risk is greater by far than any other-statistically speaking-that we take each day.

[Dman]

Never hunger
Never prosper
I have fallen prey to failure
Struggle within
Triggered again
Now the candle burns at both ends

Twisting under schizophrenia
Falling deep into dementia

Birth of terror
Death and much more
I'm the slave of fear, my captor
”Never” warnings
Spreading its wings
As I wait for the horror she brings
Loss of interest, question, wonder
Waves of fear they pull me under

Into ruin
I am sinking
Hostage of this nameless feeling
Hell is set free
Flooded I'll be
Feel the undertow inside me

Height ,hell, time, haste, terror, tension
Life, death, want, waste, mass depression

Old habits reappear
Fighting the fear of fear
Growing conspiracy
Everyone's after me
Frayed ends of sanity
Hear them calling?
Hear them calling me

[last_caress]

I was driving to do something recently. I was going to do something I had not done in a long time, after the anxiety subsided, something seized me... and it was fear.. fear of the nothingness and emptiness inside of me and in this world.... a misc haunting fear.

That's pretty much daily life for me.

[Claverhouse]

Being set on fire would be a biggie.

As a kid though I was, in addition to the usual night terrors of infancy, terrified of being buried alive ( yup, I was into Victorian terror fiction; where this was rather overdone ), or going mad.

Once it dawned on me that I was a living god, and invincible, the latter fear faded. But occasionally the idea of waking up in a sealed coffin works it's ancient horror ( yup, Poe counts as Victorian even if he wasn't really: died too soon in the usurptrix's reign --- no doubt they took especial care for him. )


Claverhouse :ph34r:


Added: in view of my distaste for the popular vote:


There (http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/c/a/caf924/poe.html)was no death certificate-as law did not require it at the time-and no formal autopsy was ever performed. The most widely accepted theory about what happened to Poe involve Election Day in Baltimore. On Election Day at the time, gangs supporting various candidates would roam the streets and pick up bystanders. The poor soul was usually lured in with alcohol and then forced to vote time and time again wearing different clothes.
What a beautiful thing is democracy in action.

[SheepDog]

I cannot think of anything specific. I have been trying lately to let go of my fears and I find that my fears have been more general, and when I think it through, they almost never sound that scary. I do repeat the pattern, but it's different things, more like inhibition than fear. Each time I loop through this, the fear seems less and less.

If you take a fear like fear of failure and think it through, you can come up with something like this: If I fail, then people will think less of me, I might not have as much happiness, and might die lonely. But really, people who know you know your talents, and are not likely to change their views (or treat you differently) based on a single event, even a big one. As for happiness, I think that 'failures' are a teacher, and since I like to learn, I welcome the opportunity. And I really can't imagine any failure that could make me tragically and permanently alone. In the end, the fear is general anxiety, and just doesn't live up to the drama. ;)

A quote that I think of fairly often is, "that which we fear controls us." I think it's very true, and I just don't like the idea.

[Sir Isaac Lime]

Death. It keeps everything in check though

[Architectonic]

or going mad.

Good to see you have sucessfully overcome that fear.

[elle]

I FEAR::::

Not being able to breathe (whether it be through drowning, suffocation, or choking)...

Losing my autonomy, my being, my will to live....
Becoming all the things that despise about the world (greedy, materialistic superficial)....
Selling out... But don't we all do it (even just a little sometimes)....???? Settling for less my worth...
Believing that what others say about me is right (especially if I believe them to be wrong)...

Losing the ability to see (literally/figuratively), walk, or express my thoughts/feelings...
Becoming indifferent to the ways of the world...
Being ignorant.
My health deteriorating....
Being afraid to take any more chances....
My ability to reason, remember my past, think.....

Being alone... Worse yet, dying alone.....

[Seishi]

hitting the ground (from a very high height...)
psychotic, obsessive and desperate people
biological warfare
loved ones dying at young ages

[holarchon]

That humans are the most intelligent form of life in the universe.

[Hexchild]

I've googled my mind for "fear" and got 3 close matches:

- My own emotions
- Dying
- Losing my abilities

[Arcades]

Not being in control. My worst fear is to be a passanger in an airplane and the plane slowly going down when i am in the back unable to affect my inpending doom in the least.

Strangly i have no real fear of death, just dying painfuly. Whenever I am at the edge of a cliff or tall building I have to step back. Not because I am afraid of heights, but because I have trouble not flinging myself off. Im one of those peole who will fight for every breath I take, 'till I someday when I will see that living is no longer possable. Then what I most want to do is go out with a bang. Be it killing the person who killed me or just walking into the woods and never comming back when im to old and insane to feel like me anymore.

Fear of death is a wast of time. Fearing life is the worst thing you will ever do.

[distraction tactics]

Failure and rejection are definitely up there... Rape, false imprisonment and similar acts, because I can't think of anything worse to happen than not being able to control what is physically being done to me.

Spiders. I kill them whenever possible, and with even extra gusto because I like rainy days.

[Google Monster]

I fear dying before I reach my goals. So I guess you can say I fear failure, and death.. for now.

[ApeTheDog]

I fear disapproval by people whose opinion I value highly, I fear not being able to communicate my ideas anymore, I fear being alone, in pain, with nobody who cares about it. I fear I'll never find a partner I want to settle down with. And yes, I also fear fear itself, because no matter how conscious I am about it, and how hard I fight it, when I stop focusing on not being afraid and I just let my mind go free again, the fear simply comes back.

[s0978]

decisions/ commitment/ finality. I want infinite possibilities to stay open all the time.

[Sackanaka]

I fear that which I believe is, is not. Specifically, love and kindness.

[shaytana]

I have been sitting here for a half an hour trying to think of something that I fear - I don’t fear anything like heights or spiders (altho yes, spiders are creepy looking) and I get a lot of anxiety from things like speaking in public and revealing feelings (like saying I love you first to a guy) - but I just don’t consider that to be fear, maybe I just fear admitting my fears even to myself.

I used to actively seek out fear. When I was 5 I lived in a house that had a cellar (2nd level basement) - I used to go down into it and get someone at the top of the stairs to turn off the light and close the door. I would stand there in the middle of the cellar for as long as I could take it and then run up the stairs (feeling that hand reaching for my back). I would do this over and over again. I also used to jump out of the 1 1/2 story bedroom window just to feel the rush of falling, then I knocked the wind out of me but made sure I jumped again after that .. to prove that I wasn’t afraid? I don’t know, I was only 5. Then once I ran around the house outside, circling it around and around during a tornado.. yeah I got in shit for that one but man was it fun. There was also a "haunted house" in the middle of the field across from my house that I wasn’t allowed to play in but of course I did, alone.

I still do to this day actually, just in other ways - and I don’t really know what all of this means. It’s late and I might be a little high.

[purple13]

you like to flirt with danger? it makes you feel alive?

[Master O]

I have been sitting here for a half an hour trying to think of something that I fear - I don’t fear anything like heights or spiders (altho yes, spiders are creepy looking) and I get a lot of anxiety from things like speaking in public and revealing feelings (like saying I love you first to a guy) - but I just don’t consider that to be fear, maybe I just fear admitting my fears even to myself.

I used to actively seek out fear. When I was 5 I lived in a house that had a cellar (2nd level basement) - I used to go down into it and get someone at the top of the stairs to turn off the light and close the door. I would stand there in the middle of the cellar for as long as I could take it and then run up the stairs (feeling that hand reaching for my back). I would do this over and over again. I also used to jump out of the 1 1/2 story bedroom window just to feel the rush of falling, then I knocked the wind out of me but made sure I jumped again after that .. to prove that I wasn’t afraid? I don’t know, I was only 5. Then once I ran around the house outside, circling it around and around during a tornado.. yeah I got in shit for that one but man was it fun. There was also a "haunted house" in the middle of the field across from my house that I wasn’t allowed to play in but of course I did, alone.

I still do to this day actually, just in other ways - and I don’t really know what all of this means. It’s late and I might be a little high.
i wish i had known you growing up. dreamgirl...

[ohnoaninfp]

intps

[kendoiwan]

Failure
I watched final destination 2 way too many times (still drive like a maniac though) ;P
I live in NYC between Bin Laden tryna blow up the trains, ignant colored folk, ignant white folk dressed as cops, shoot outs, stray bullets, I can be a tad bit pnoid at times. :blink:
Success (now what do I do?) :shock:
Being the best emcee nobody has ever heard of. But being a successful lawyer.
Not being as good as I know I am (and then the next verse comes and I'm all better)

[Madrigal]

I fear that no-one may really know, or care, what I most fear.

[kwis]

Mostly failure(making the wrong choice). Rejection. Being dechameleon'd. Betrayal of my trust. Stupid people with power.

[Melange]

failure and incompetence, heights, talking in front of people (especially larger crowds), showing my true intentions, saying what interests me to friends (I don't want to get them emotionally involved, or just plain involved at all), loss of autonomy, showing any strong emotion regardless of whether its positive or negative. Also stupid, competitive people who strive for power and obtain it with their fake charisma and having the potential to screw everything up and myself not being able to do anything.

[euterpenc]

failure and incompetence, heights, talking in front of people (especially larger crowds), showing my true intentions, saying what interests me to friends (I don't want to get them emotionally involved, or just plain involved at all), loss of autonomy, showing any strong emotion regardless of whether its positive or negative. Also stupid, competitive people who strive for power and obtain it with their fake charisma and having the potential to screw everything up and myself not being able to do anything.

I chucked most of that in with fear of rejection. Why ese would you not want to show strong emotion? If it's there it must be true, so its expression is what bothers you.

[Melange]

I guess both bother me, the expression of emotion and people knowing my intentions, I agree it does have partly to do with rejection, but also because if people knew what I was really thinking, they'd start asking questions and prying into my life. I need my privacy and I hate people intruding in my life, space, etc... All related but I wanted to be more specific with answers.

[Misazeno]

I haven't had any fears I haven't been able to get over, though I do fear loosing a family member, and heving to wait before I see them again. I don't fear death, for I am dead everytime I go to sleep. I believe so much that I don't fear death.

Now there is is differenet religions but they all have a god in them and what ever you call god, he is still god. I grew up morman but I study all religions, mostly buddhism, because is focuses on bettering oneself.

[panda]

Annoyingly, I'm now afraid of heights. I haven't always been afraid of heights... so I don't know what happened to trigger that fear, but it's very real.