Whenever I mention to someone that I'm not scared of anything, I invariably get the same response. "You'd be scared if someone had a gun to your head, or if a large truck was racing uncontrollably toward you."Well. Yes.
I would be afraid. I'm crazy, not stupid.
What I mean is, I don't have any irrational fears.
Rats? Mice? No problem. I once walked out of my apartment building to come face to face with a large rat sitting on the handrail. We stared at each other for a moment and then each of moved calmly on. Also? Pol and I had pet mice for a while. Wen, Mousameeque, Turbo and Torque. Very sweet they were. Especially Mousameeque.
Snakes? Nope. Held many a snake in my time, including a few very large constrictor's (Thanks pseudo-Alice Cooper! The best thing about your show was the snake. Remember that one, Spider?)
Um...bats? Well, I've never really seen them but at a distance and I admired their long, swoopy (it is SO a word!) flight around the lamp posts on their hunt for dinner. Nothing scary about that.
Heights? I went up the CN Tower once, in Toronto. They have a glass floor inset that I strode across. Other people would stand at the very edges looking down, clutching their significant others trembling and looking pale. I don't think my walking across it made them feel any better.
Enclosed spaces. I haven't really ever been 'trapped' in an enclosed space, and I doubt it would be fun. But I've been in a cave or two, and wiggled through cracks and crevices enough times to know that it doesn't bother me.
What other irrational fears are out there? Spiders? Ha! I pulled on a shirt once and stood brushing my hair in a mirror when a large fat spider crawled out of the shirt and up my neck. It surprised me, that's true, but after a momentary pause, I scooped him/her gently up and deposited it outside. Can't blame me for the rain!
Planes are a big fear for many. But I've been really fortunate to fly quite a bit, and have, in fact, flown both a plane and a helicopter myself (wheeeee!) and found it exhilarating.
Oh, I almost forgot about needles! Nope, not scared of them either and I have the tattoos to prove it.
So that's me.
Of course, being 'fearless' isn't always what it's cracked up to be. I seem to missing the instinctual 'voice of reason' that keeps others safe.
I have often put myself in questionable situations because I wasn't afraid. Walking alone along deserted streets late at night through bad parts of town, accepting 'candy from strangers', riding on motorcycles with people I don't know, and generally careening through life without much of a thought for danger. (Come to think of it, on several of those occasions I had friends with me. I don't recall them putting a halt to my activities. Kimber! Spider! What happened to my exterior "voices of reason"?
I rather suspect they came along to pick up the body parts and prepare a feasible story for my Mom.)
It's amazing that I'm still here, whole and sane (don't laugh!) and un-traumatized.
How 'bout you?
I posted a picture of a wee rabbit 'cus I figured no one would appreciate large pictures of snakes, rats and big needles. I like you guys too much to want to scare you away!
26 comments:
LOL I love your concern for your readers.
I am like you I think except for two things,slugs and leeches but it's not like I run off screaming into the night in fear. If a leech ever got me,I'd shudder and most likely pull it off..and go back into the water,albeit a less mucky part. When I come across slugs in the garden I shudder and flick them into the neighbors yard(hehehehe) and continue gardening..so on second thought may be I'm not afraid them after all. ??
I love bats! Devon saw one almost fly into me at the old house but at the last millisecond it changed direction. I barely felt the wind from it's wings. And I think swoopy is the perfect word to describe them!
I'm not scared of most of the things you listed, except spiders. All spiders except non-venomous taratulas scare the living crap out of me. I remember seeing one crawling up my thigh once and thought I was going to faint. *shudder*
Well, you already know about my height thing, and I make no apologies. It's not the fall that hurts you, but the sudden impact at the bottom.
Otherwise, no not very much. Rats I loathe, but am not afraid of them. Actually, I'm very Buddhist about almost all animals and tend to put them outside if they're intrusive, rather than kill them. Spiders, snakes and bats. I actually kind of like them.
I'm like Ian - heights make my knees wobbly and my stomach flip flop.
As long as no insect, reptile or rodent is in my bed I'm fine with them too - they can be near me, on me even but not in my bed. The only insect that gives me the hebee jeebies is an earwig - for some reason I dislike them immensely.
This explains the way you drive...
I believe I am like you in this; nothing phases me. Would I be scared if a lion was wandering through the neighbourhood? Yes, but who wouldn't?
I think I am mildly clautrophobic. And mildly manic too. But that's another story.
I did not think I was afraid of confined spaces, until I was trapped in an elevator. Finding myself suddenly afraid was more frightening that what made me afraid in the first place.
I mean, really... after all of our wacky adventures? I thought nothing could rattle me. Accepting rides from strange boys on motorbikes; cave spelunking in the middle of the night; hiking in the woods and stumbling across ropes of intestines; whiplash Bob... truly, the list goes on an on and on.
Hey, wanna throw knives at each other? C'mon...s'fun!
Definitely scared of heights. Still I have been on a helicopter (no problem) and mountain climbing (have difficulty coming down). Won't walk across the glass at CN Tower though. My biggest success yet was climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Good on you for not having any of these irrational fears.
The gun thing 5 times, walked away intact, money in my pocket each time, needles no problem shoot myself many times a day for diabetes. Heights, if they are enclosed like the CN tower no problem, open heights like walking a an open I beam fifty feet in the air, yea that on causes a bit O' freeze but not until I realize where I am at, usually half way across.
Huge trucks and cars coming to raise calamity in my life, well let it be said I still drive even though it has not been a kind decade for me thus far in that arena.
Death...life we choose our fears and like you, TAI, I choose not to fear anything or one.
Peace
mark
I don't have any irrational fears either.
One of my most extraordiary travel moments was draping a 10 foot long python around my shoulders in Vietnam. Of course she had eaten a chicken the day before. Like you said, I'm not stupid.
Anything in the polecat family.
Not my game.
I'm not afraid of heights, but I am terrified of planes. It's the idea of not having my feet on the ground, or actually connected to something that is on the ground that I find disconcerting.
I have also had a wolf spider climb out of my sweater onto my shoulder, and I wasn't crazy about that either, but I always put spiders outside too.
I have irrational fears of a few things like heights and enclosed spaces and rational fears of others, mostly snakes and spiders because I grew up in the land of venomous snakes and spiders. I saw a young man die over three months of rabies from the bite of a bat, so one should fear them too.
Actually it's a wonder any kid grows up to be an adult considering the risks out there but they do.
Hmmm, maybe you don't have an adrenal gland.
I'm afraid ofeverything except cats. I'm even afraid of rabbits. I once ran from a baby squirrel. Oh wait, I forgot, and this part is weird: I'm not afraid of wasps and actually get a thrill out of wasp-hunting. I love to kill wasps. I'll smack them out of the air with my bare hand. I don't know why I'm not afraid of wasps. I'm just weird. Or maybe because I know my husband is severely allergic to them?
I love your bunny picture. I'm not afraid of any of those things you mentioned... my worst ewwwwwww-have-to-pull-up-my-feet fear is: the R word... can't even say it here. It runs skittering away in the night when you turn on the light... gross Gross GROSS!!! I know they don't bite or anything... but they are just pure vile creatures.
Thanks for the bunny.
I MIGHT take candy from a stranger....but I'd want you along side me!
My fears are irrational, reactionary or in the realm of "what if". Drives Hubby batty.
About 12 years ago I was at the top of that CN Tower, and I was one of the chickens standing at the edge of that glas cutout in the floor. My friend had no fear and walked over it a couple of times. I was terrified. We walked around a bit & then I went back to the edge - trying to gather the courage to squash my (you described it correctly - IRRATIONAL - fear) when suddenly he pushed me in the back and I went running accross those few feet. He laughed hysterically, and I would have killed him right on the spot, except I knew I would have done the same to him if the roles had been reversed. Oh, and I asked my 82 year old grandmother check the mousetrpas I had set in her basement. Talk about being a huge pussy. Odd, since I could walk all around the scary parts of NYC back when it was still dangerous & not be scared. I guess that might point more to me being scared & stupid.
Rats - scream like a girl
Mice - scream like a girl
Spiders - scream like a girl, passout
snakes - scream like a girl while running
Heights - shake and sweat
Flying - Xanax x 2
Bats - scream like a girl
Needles - hmmm not so bad
Caves - See Heights
But of all the things that scare me...people scare me the most.
But I am not afraid of...ah...I'll get back to you.
I forgot to mention I am afraid of little bunnies also. Never saw Donnie Darko did you? Remember the BUNNY huh???
I think you've got the right idea. Life's no fun if you're scared of everything, and if it ends in disaster, at least you lived your life and went out with a bang. :)
I'm irrationally anxious around bees and cars, but that's about it. I'll just blame some childhood trauma involving being stung by a car.
I can't say I have any irrational fears about things that exist. If I do have any, they involve the unknown.
Just followed your comment on Ian's site. Looks like some interesting stuff here. :)
Spiders and ferris wheels. While the spider-thing is no longer full-blown arachnophobia, it used to be. Seriously. And the ferris wheel thing is interesting considering heights don't bother me otherwise ~ only from the top of a ferris wheel. The little voice that keeps me out of trouble tends to be very, very quiet.
I have an irrational and occasionally crippling fear of birds - which can be problematic around seagulls, pigeons and chickens.
I wish I could be like that, and I mean that sincerely. You're saving so much valuable real estate in your brain by not giving in to irrational fears!
I haven't read through your many comments here, but wanted to add in that I am emetophobic and probably just spelled that wrong... it may be emetephobic. In any case, it's a fear of vomiting.
I could write an entire book, easily, just on this topic and how it has grossly interfered with my entire life.
Last time I threw up I was in fifth grade yet I've feared it ever since.
No other fear or discomfort I own could ever match up with this one. Never.
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