The other day after returning from lunch, we were all walking (read: very slowly) back to our offices to resume our normal workday, when somehow (the rabbit trails we chase are impressive), the topic of getting sick came up.
It probably came up because currently there is all manner of viruses floating around and we’re all terrified of being the next victim, but anyway, I readily admitted to the fact that vomiting is one of my biggest fears.
The rule here at LPM is if you are sick: STAY HOME. Thank you very much. We love you, but we don’t love your germs.
I won’t go into detail on here out of respect for the fact that some of you might be catching up on the blog during your lunch break, but needless to say, there is nothing worse in my book than getting a stomach virus that produces this kind of reaction.
Lord help me if I end up being one of those that suffers from you-know-what during pregnancy. Speaking of that, I’m going to start asking the Lord to have a little grace on me in that area when that time comes. I’m believing God.
Anyway, once I admitted to that bizarre fear, she who will remain nameless, admitted another strange fear that may or may not have involved a parking lot.
I let she who will remain nameless expand on that if she wants.
We go so tickled that I immediately thought of how quirky we all were and then I thought of y’all. For some reason I have this feeling that if I asked you what your most bizarre fear was, you would deliver.
So, spill it.
Now, I realize we all have legitimate fears, but if you have something out of this world weird, we want to know.
You are in good company.
Oh, and for the record, the fear of vomiting has a term. (Could this post be any less girly? Laughing. Sorry, y’all. Just being real.)
It’s called Emetophobia.
Boom.
You’re welcome.
My fear is swimming alone in a pool in the deep end. I have this fear that there is something (large snake, monster, whatever) that will know I’m alone and come up from the bottom and get me. So I stay in the shallow end when I’m alone. Strange, right?
YES! I was even a swimmer and lifeguard and this is a huge fear of mine! Only I think a polar bear is in the deep end waiting to eat me…. haha maybe this is why I was sooo fast!
I also share that whole vomiting thing.
When my fourth was a wee child infant, I was sitting on the couch when I could tell the sounds coming from her were those of soon coming projectile vomiting. (yes, I said it). When I jumped up (barefooted living in TX) and ran to the kitchen sink with her on my hip, it was too late. It went all over the floor, causing me to slip on the slippery wood floor trying to grab the top of the bar as I went down like on a slip n’ slide. It was BAD. My underarm scraped up like a huge strawberry scrape. Needless to say, she was so sick for 24 hours. Then I too got it right after.
Oh. the. joy. of. parenting.
Now have a great lunch… laughing.
I love you all and would have LOVED to be in on that conversation.
Oh, and the fear of getting my hand stuck in the garbage disposal and it turning on! Ugghhhh!
Rene! Bless you, Sister. That is awful. Moms are my heroes for this very reason!
I think the garbage disposal is a healthy fear.
Like a child, I fear that if I walk over a grate on a side walk or parking lot that it will collapse & ill fall in! I realize that cars drive over them & they hold up, yet cant bring myself to step on one. I even make my children walk around them;)
Me too!! My husband laughs at me.
My husband dropped his keys into one of these drains one day. He called the city and they helped him get them out.
Yes!!!! I won’t walk on them. I go out of my way, and will wait for people to get out of my way, so I don’t have to walk on them.
My boss’ vehicle fell thru a large drain grate in the middle of roadway a few months back.
When I was a child my foot went through a grate in our church garden area. The only way they could get my foot out was to take my shoe off. I was so scared they were going to drop my shoe and I’d never see it again. I can’t remember how they got my shoe unbuckled though.
My shoe was saved!
Can’t believe I haven’t seen this one yet…I’ve had a fear of flying for about 25 years. It came on unexpectedly, and I had to turn down my dream job at the time (General Counsel of a major corporation) because I knew I’d have to fly alot!
Oh Julie! I’m praying this fear off of you! I believe you can gain some confidence in flying in Jesus’ name. Be brave, girl!
Right? It is terrifying! I know it’s way safer than driving or any other means of transportation. But seriously, we are literally above the clouds! Above. the. clouds. How that doesn’t freak people out is beyond me. What comforts me though is how calm everyone else is in the plane. But as we board this same thought always goes through my head “Look around, this may be the people you die along side of.” I know horrible, I shouldn’t of even said it!
You are so spot on!
Once I was on a very bumpy flight and thought I could gain comfort in the stewardess telling me this was normal, but when I asked if this was okay she tentatively said, “I hope so”. Oh my goodness!! Not comforting at all!
I get nervous just watching jets overhead, thinking and praying about the poor people trapped up there on an airplane. The poor things.
I have a fear of mascots or people dressed in full costume. I once was chased and tickled by a giant bird at a baseball game and I was on the jumbotron. Now I have heart palpitations and now I just want to run and cover my ticklish spots.
Me too! I can’t stand mascots! Glad I am not alone 🙂
Haha, this one had my laughing out loud!!
Oh, and vintage dolls too!
Yes! Certain vintage dolls – the ones with the too-big eyes, they creep me out as well.
I fear running out of yellow sticky-notes.
I asked that at least one pad of them be put in
the coffin with me.
I hate HATE hate the word “spore” – ever since the whole anthrax envelope thing, and every newscaster on television was saying it over and over. i can’t believe i even just typed that word. ew.
I have a fear of sneezes in elevators. I read once that a sneeze travels 25 feet. First of
all I am very clostophobic and elevators make me a nervous
Wreck – then add a sneeze in there and I nearly come absolutely
Unglued!!! I have to pray and restrain myself from covering my
Nose and mouth with the neck of my shirt. So that is my fear of being
showered with someone else’s sneeze – ewww yuck!!
One last thing, I buy 1/2 gallon of hand sanitizer every year. What does that say!?
I’m careful with clean hands too, Sharon! Especially restaurant menus – ew.
I never really thought about how germy restaurant menus get. Yikes.
Yes! They can be the germiest things in a restaurant because they are constantly handled, breathed on, and probably sneezed on by everyone but they are never cleaned.
Shower curtains… If I’m at your house & I go into your bathroom, I don’t care how pretty your shower curtain is or how clean or dirty your shower is, I’m going to pull the shower curtain open. Lol. OH! And I also WILL NOT let any part of my body hang off the edge of my bed while I sleep. No way, no how. These fears are most likely caused by having 3 brothers that loved to tease me when I was younger. God love ’em!
Mine is driving over water on a bridge. No matter how wide or how much concrete is underneath…I just get butterflies in my stomach and I look straight ahead. I have had dreams of going into water and not being able to get out of my car. So I do not drive over too many bridges if I do not have to. Not sure if that comes from watching too many movies with scenes like that or what…so I am careful about what I watch!
I am right there with you on the fear of going over bridges! I live a couple hours from the Mackinac Bridge which is 5 miles long and my heart starts to beat faster and my hands sweat every time I have to go over. I did try to look out over the water and it is beautiful but also creepy!! Glad I’m not alone, my husband thinks I’m crazy..
I have a deep fear of bugs, spiders etc basically anything that can fly, crawl, slither etc. I think the official name is Entomophobia. My instincts are generally to scream followed immediately by flight no matter what.
Funny story involving driving. Picture this, while stopped at a traffic light and a bee flew in the window. I let out such a blood curdling scream, arms flailing about wildly that the driver next to me took off. I jumped out the car while continuing to scream never mind I forgot to place the car in park so the car rolled forward into the intersection much to my passengers surprise.
I’ve got a ton of stories that are funny after the fact but at the time not so much. I know it’s weird but after 5 decades the fear is still quite strong I believe I’ll have it til Jesus returns or calls me home.
OK, I know Michele does not think so, but my fear of birds is COMPLETELY rational. They could TOTALLY swoop down, thrust their beak into your ear and peck our your brains. Just sayin.
That being said, I have no explanation for my over the top fear of touching raw meat. I am not afraid of getting some weird disease or e-coli or anything of such nature, I am just enormously afraid of raw meat and the thought of touching it makes me break out into shakes and cold sweats. Proven by the fact that it has taken me a solid 12.75 minutes to type this comment because my hands will NOT cooperate.
The end.
Oh my, I totally agree with the birds. I think they are going to swoop down and peck my head too. My husband laughs at me… especially because his mom is a bird lover. Ooh – gives me the chills!
I am SO with you girls on the birds!!! They TOTALLY creep me out! Especially the ones with pointy beaks! They can peck your eyes out! I’m pretty sure it is because my grandmother let me watch Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” when I was entirely too young to watch it!! The other fear is dead things… especially dead animals.
And get this… A few years ago, my great aunt passed away. I was cleaning out her house and kept hearing something in the fireplace flue… didn’t think much of it and left the house for the day. Went back the next morning and had to potty really bad. Doing the potty dance opening the door and ran to the bathroom… and there was a dead bird in the toilet!!! Just about came unglued!!! Screamed and ran out of the house!! Luckily, I didn’t potty my pants!!! Actually made it back home where I rousted my poor husband out of a deep sleep to come get rid of the bird!
God forgive me, I know they’re His creatures and all… but… creepy!
I get the bird thing. I’m not afraid of them but have had them stuck before. I have curly hair & was babysitting 3 kids who had 3 parakeets. Named “ruffles & chips” (that was cute) the let them out & both landed on my head. Then when they tried to get them off both birds got their feet stuck in my curls and were hanging upside down like some very lifelike feather earrings!
Oh, that’s rational, birds do that all the time. Except for NOT! hahaha
Dude what’s your big one though?
DUDE! My “big one” is too much for comment time on a blog. And it is not silly. And it makes me hyperventilate just thinking about it. And now I need pie.
Were you forced to watch the movie, The Birds, when you were a kid? My husband gets us all to watch it from time to time! Scary! And a bird actually did swoop down and peck my good friend on the head when we were little … and she started bleeding! She was too close to its nest. Ugh! I will never forget that.
LOL – Shelli, I did watch Birds as a kid and I am SURE it didn’t help! Also, a few years ago a friend called me and told me that The Birds was on TV. I asked her why she assumed that would apply to me AT ALL! and she said “oh, stop being a wuss and just watch it!” So, being a last word kinda girl, I turned it on. Hubbs was in the other room listening. Every few minutes I would scream and turn it off (hear him laugh) then turn it back on and try again. Finally after about an hour, he came in and said “just leave it off, you don’t HAVE to watch it.” My response was “HELLO! I cannot let D— think I’m a wuss. I am not a wuss!” At which pint I looked at the screen, SCREAMED and started to cry. He took the remote, turned the channel and left the room shaking his head.
Worst day of our marriage.
🙂
I’ve tried to get around this one – but I have a fear of falling – falling down, or even falling off of balcony’s. I try to stay away from the edge of anything. I’m fine usually as long as I can’t see the ground (I really don’t like glass walls or enclosures where you can see down). Along with this is a fear of….ESCALATORS. I have a irrational fear of these contraptions. I can usually go up them (as long as I’m not holding a lot of stuff), but I can rarely go down. In malls and such, I take the stairs or the elevator. I know in my head that this fear is completely irrational and ridiculous, but oh well – I just walk more!
Lisa- I’m with you on the stairs… I always opt for the stairs as opposed to escalators. When I was a young child I saw a little girl get the string of her winter coat caught in the steps and it eventually pulled her down. :/
I can totally relate to the escalator thing! Once I froze up at the top and couldn’t put my foot on it. I had to find an elevator. My sister thought I was nuts but I just couldn’t do it. I have since been on one but I have to wait for just the right time to step on and I can’t if there are any people anywhere near me! Going up is no problem…it’s just going down.
This is crazy but…retractable tape measures!!! I’ve been cut by one before. So now when I use one I just drop it and run!!
ooohhhh – that’s a good one – I’m always afraid those are going to cut me too!
I have always, since I was little afraid of walking into a room at night with the windows open. And of walking into a big open room with really high ceilings. Like really bad vertigo or something. It’s wierd yes I know.
Seaweed. Aaaaaagh.
And if I walk over a bridge (over water or over roads/railway) I grip my purse/phone/whatever I’m carrying in a death grip in case somehow it strangely slips out of my hand and bounces and falls off the bridge…
You did say quirky, didn’t you?
I do that when walking over bridges or really anything high up – I grip my hands tightly too, because I think my rings will fall off – they won’t – but I’m convinced they will!
Oh how our minds work!
Oh my! I can identify with so many of you! to add to the list, I am afraid to take a shower while no one else is home – no matter the time of day :/ Also, I’m always thinking about how I can defend myself if someone tried to steal my purse or tried to kidnap me when I’m getting into my car. I don’t watch scary movies for many reasons – one is they implant all these fears that I allow to affect my life, ugh. Also, if I have a sweater or shirt that is hard to get off, I definitely start freaking out and hyperventilating, yikes!
Beth! I also do not watch scary movies on purpose either. I live in my own scary movie most of the time, so no need to watch any. Ha!
Beth, I am the same way about showers. I will wait till my husband or kids get home in the afternoon to shower if I don’t get one before they leave. I just tell them why shower before you clean the toilet. lol
That’s funny, I am always thinking about survival strategies in case of a kidnapping. Too much Law and Order.
I am afraid to take showers when no one is home also – but I can do it if it’s daylight out – I just hurry. Darkness – no way. I also “preplan” for emergencies. I’m afraid to get trampled if something happens. So I always look for emergency exits, etc. I watch shows on how people survived so I might know how to take care of myself in a certain situation. I also can’t watch scary movies and am very afraid of snakes.
Haha! This made me laugh so hard at work today!
I have a fear of spiders which I will always hold as legitimate, but I do have a bizarre fear that they will fall on my head in the shower when there is nothing I will be able to do! This fear has become even more terrifying ever since a few years ago when a spider actually DID fall on me in the shower! Haha. You should have heard how loud I screamed!
Also, every year when autumn comes around, I go through a whole process of checking all my winter boots to make sure no spiders took up residence inside my boots during the summer. Thankfully, none have ever been found 🙂
I share the claustrophobia fear with some of the previous posters. I have to be sedated for any testing that involves and MRI – thankfully, those have been few and far between.
I also have the fear of walking over drains and grates in the a parking lot, etc. I’m afraid they are going to fall in and I will end up in the sewer….Ew.
Oh ~ SPIDERS.
Oh me too on the MRI. I can start hyperventilating just thinking about sliding into that tube. And now that I have the mental picture of the MRI machine in my mind I think I’m going to have to get a Twinkie just to settle myself down:) Yes, sedation is good, and I thank God for Valium
I am very fearful of vomiting, too!!! I made it 10 years without it happening until I got food poisoning Christmas Eve night 2010—-now I am fighting my strong dislike of the smell of pine (since it was X-mas I had a plug-in that smelled of pine in the bathroom….)! I also have a huge fear of those giant LCD billboards……I can’t handle driving on highway where I know there is one of those. 🙂 Thankfully there aren’t too many of them in STL, yet…(But I will drive the long way to avoid them…..)….. 😀
I have that same fear! Vomiting!! On Amanda’s blog one time she said she had vomit phobia. It is nice to know that I am not alone!!!
Well mine is not so much a fear as it is a spook if that makes any sense! You will not get me outside on a very dark and windy night to walk anywhere more than 10 ft!!! Especially in the fall when leaves scurry across in front of me! I freak out!!!
My biggest fear is driving anywhere near those big rigs that carry 8 or so new cars on them. Not the “oh doesn’t that look wobbly” kind of fear. More like the “clenching the steering wheel, I have to pull over” type of fear.
Mine is walking upstairs from a basement…I always have the feeling something is chasing me and have to stop myself from running up the stairs!!
ROFL….you too? I thought I was the only one that feared that. It sure makes you move faster up the stairs tho doesn’t it?
I have panic attacks driving on highways. It started with bridges. I hate bridges. Slowly but surely I’m gaining God’s healing in this area. I WILL be able to drive on the highway again!
Me too! May the Lord deliver us both!
I have “real” fears like being afraid of spiders, but my strangest fear is this: I’m terrified that a plane will crash into me. (This is a pre-9/11 fear, by the way.) I don’t fear that I will crash while IN a plane. I’m afraid that a plane will crash into me while I’m on the ground. Since I live in the country surrounded by fields that are regularly crop-dusted, this fear can be very exhausting! My husband thinks it’s hilarious because, of course, it is! 🙂
This is the last one I promise. Those automatic blower hand dryers in public restrooms! Yuck! I read and article probably 35 yrs ago. I won’t use them or let my girls use them and now they are grown their don’t use them. Germs flying around…. Just sayin’
I have a freakish fear of sleeping on the top bunk of bunk beds. I’m so afraid of the bunk failing and falling on the poor person below me and killing them! So sad! This is a hardship at times being in youth ministry. 😉
I’m just not a fan of bunk beds in general. 🙂
I have a fear of the bottom bunk. Either that I’m on the bottom & the top will fall or if I’m on too I’ll break it & make it fall crunshing the sleeper below me!
Oh, this is so fun! Ok my weird phobia is giant aquariums. I can’t stand near them. I guess I’m afraid of them breaking and those gross giant fish falling on me?? Ew…
My fear is basements! Do you have those in Texas? When I was a little girl, I was afraid of the basement because I could never see around the corner (it was “L” shaped) and they are sometimes dirty and full of webs. (My parents kept theirs clean though) To this day I don’t like to be alone in a basement!
I have a bizarre fear of escalators! I am so afraid that I will miss the step and fall. I know it’s silly but it’s true!
When in college (how is it possible that was soooo long ago!?), my roomies would tape cups over bugs they found but were too afraid to truly get rid of. Based on size, I would either set the thing ‘out’ or smoosh and flush. Anyway, I was the TOUGH one who could handle such things (maybe my 4 brothers helped thicken this skin).
Shortly after graduation I moved home to the D.C. suburbs and then into a damp basement apartment. It had “camel crickets.” Do you know what these beasts are? I can stand my ground and kill me some camel crickets, but if you had monitors on me, my heart would be racing and my knees would be weak. I HATE THEM. Why, on His earth, does our Lord allow for these? They actually jump TOWARD you when being attacked. Chills up my spine as I typed that. Ihatethemsomuch.
Lindsee – I can totally relate to your fear! And I was that pregnant woman who prayed and prayed for no morning sickness and thank the Lord he answered those prayers!! 🙂 He is faithful. 😉
Funny thing….I’m actually home sick today doing the whole vomiting thing. I’ve suffered with migraines for years so I’m all too familiar with the process. Not a fan but it doesn’t create fear. I DO however have a terrible fear of….fish hooks. As a Southern girl I feel it’s almost wrong to admit it but they scare the mess out of me. I can just see one of those things getting caught somewhere on my person and having a total panic attack. It’s even worse when I see children fishing, just waving the hook around in the air like a weapon. Lord help me, I just can’t stand it.
Deborah, I am so sorry you are sick today, but I hope this post has given you a little laugh! Hope you start feeling better soon.
Listen, I can LIST THE FEARS. Three biggies are swimming (I can’t swim), driving (didn’t get my license till age 21, and I only got it then because my now-husband said he wouldn’t marry me till I learned how to drive. Rude.), and choking (I still warn my kids to be careful with their hot dogs, and my youngest is ten.). My weirdest fear, though, is about feet. I can’t touch them, can’t be touched by them, can’t go barefoot in hotel rooms, etc. Mostly, I worry that I’ll get hookworms. I read once that they can enter through bare feet. So now, if my own husband rolls over in bed and his foot touches mine, I think, “HOOKWORMS!”
My lands. Have a good day, ladies! 🙂
I’m Southern and I, literally, walk around barefoot about 80% of the time. The sweet girl that gives me pedicures says to me every single time I see her…”You go barefoot too much!”
I am now going to immediately forget I read the Hookworms thing. …eek… 🙂
Oh my gosh, I freaked out when I read this. I HATE feet as well. I get panicked when someone, like my husband or siblings, touch me with their foot. The only feet I like are my childrens 🙂
Ditto
Oh Amy I want to teach you to swim! I have taught many adults to swim – I have worked with ladies who have the exact same swimming fear as you and it is so fun to see them overcome it!
I’m afraid of driving over bridges or overpasses. I’m always afraid I’m going to drive right off the edge into the water, street below or whatever. I hold my breath the whole time and God to keep me from dying. Ha.
Kay! I was about to write that same thing…only my fear involves only long bridges over water. When I have to do it, it definitely provides a period of concentrated prayer.
Oh Kim me too!!! don’t hold my breath but the heart starts beating much faster :o)
My biggest fear is lizards!!! The little green ones that blow that red bubble-like thing out from their chin. Yuck! Hate ’em and will do anything to avoid them.
I am afraid of mascots. Not all mascots…Reveille and Bevo are fine and I can handle me some Disney princesses/princes, but you put Goofy and me in a room alone and there will be sweaty palms, a racing heart and my flight reflex will have me searching for an exit. I don’t know why I am like this. My mother swears that I did not have a traumatic encounter with a character in my childhood that spawned into this out-of-control fear. If I see one coming and I will turn around, cross the street or do whatever I have to in order to avoid a confrontation. Doesn’t matter who I’m with or what we’re talking about. They just creep me out. It’s the not knowing who is inside the costume that bothers me more than anything and then that stranger dressed as a large duck gets all up in your personal space trying to hug you and blows kisses at you. Creepy creepy! Would you know that I am breaking out into a sweat just thinking about this??
I have a fear of falling and chipping a tooth. I never have, knock on wood, but just thinking about it makes me suck in my lips to cover my teeth. I also don’t like dressed up characters and mascots. I need to see a real face to know who is in that costume!
This is probably a legitimate fear…but I’m terrified of snakes. I always have been. I’m so freaked out by them I can’t even look at pictures of them or fake snakes…nothing snake like. One time my family was visiting Mexico and the little street children were trying to get us to by things and one thing was one of those wooden snakes that bends and slithers when you hold it. I was seriously running down the street away from the children and their wooden snakes. I also taught elementary school and my husband would have to cover the snake pictures in the science book so that I could teach from the pages that the snakes were on.
I too DESPISE snakes. I remember being outside one time, picking some choice firewood for our camping trip and picking up a log, only to have a snake swooped over the other end of it. I dropped the log and headed to the door of the house. Problem is, to this day, I have NO idea how I jumped up onto the porch and got into the house, its all tucked somewhere in my subconscious. Yup. despise those devilish critters.
I have the hardest time going to the bathroom in a port-a-potty….they freak me out and I fear some some creepy toxic mutant animal is going to jump up and bite me in the bottom when I am in a vulnerable state…
Me too! I’m also afraid it will tip over or the lock isn’t working.
One of my biggest fears is putting into writing what my biggest fear is. That being said, I must trust God, perfect Love casts out all fear. .. I am a nurse and I am afraid of hurting someone in the coarse of my job. It causes me great stress,but yet I am called by God to this profession. Only by his grace do I walk this path.
Centipedes. Anything with that many legs just cannot be trusted.
Spiders, mice, snakes or any other kind of creepy-crawly are all just fine, but centipedes send me over the edge. Spouse thinks this is the funniest thing ever.
When my husband and I used to live in an apartment we had a water bed and some nights I would have to go sleep on the couch because I was just sure that heavy water bed was going to fall through out third story apartment floor!!! How dumb is that! It of course never did and I got rid of his water bed ASAP! 🙂
I have a fear of eating anything I grow out of my garden. I grow some amazing veggies, but I give them all away except my cherry tomatoes because my kids like to pluck them and eat them. I cringe but im not going to pass on such a ridiculous fear, so I look the other way.
Definitely fear of heights. If you don’t suffer from this you will never truly understand how gravity can actually pull you up and over that railing and down to your death. Might explain the recurring dream I’ve had for about a million years. I’m driving a car up a hill…which becomes vertical…and then the front end of the car starts tipping…tipping over backwards. (Don’t remember if my fear of backward somersaults came before or after that dream!)
The Dentist!!
I actually love my dentist as a person, but I’ve told him I think he picked the worst job in the history of ever but I’m glad he did, because my teeth might have rotted out of my head if he wasn’t so kind and patient with me.
Seriously, he deserves some kind of medal for his tolerance and lack of judgement for my inability to communicate until it’s over and the best I’ve come up with, so far, is a plate of chocolate chip cookies, girlfriends. He’s stopped asking me questions during the process because all I do in response is kind of whimper pathetically. I’ve often wondered if he’s so kind to me because I have to be a real source of humor once I’ve hit the door. 😛
I can hear something that sounds like their drills and my muscles start to tense..even if it’s on TV. It’s completely irrational, but true.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Girl, I’m RIGHT there with you. I loathe the dentist with everything in me. Why? Oh, because one time he made me throw up! Duh!
Besides those large hairy spiders, I was always afraid my kids would fall out of the car on the highway if they leaned on the doors. Also 18 wheelers. I white knuckle the steering wheel when I have to pass. And choking. Not for me, so much as for my family. I cut up my husband’s meat for years after we were married because I was afraid he would choke and I would be a widow. I don’t do that anymore. But I do still cut up my fourteen year old daughter’s meat…