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.
Reading this reminds me that there are so many people afraid to drive over the bridge to Macinack Island in Michigan that they have authorities there that will drive your car over for free.
I can see why people would be afraid of crossing the bridge to Mackinac Island… because it would be an imaginary bridge, there isn’t one that goes to Mackinac Island. There are no motorized vehicle (only a fire truck in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter) that are allowed on the Island. Occasionally, if it’s been cold enough and the ice on the Straits of Mackinaw gets thick enough, there is an Ice Bridge that snowmobiles can take from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island in the winter. Now that’s a bridge to the island that I would fear crossing.
I think Jan is thinking of the bridge on I-75 that goes from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace. The only time I’ve ever been across that 5 mile beast is in the dead of winter (multiple times!) and I have to say it scares me to death every time. Especially when I found out once that they closed the thing behind me because the wind and weather were so bad!
A friend of mine grew up spending summers and lots of winter times there and remembers taking snow mobiles across the straits alot to the island. NO.THANK.YOU.
Check out this website for information on the bridge that really does exist. http://www.mackinacbridge.org/faq-17/Bridge+services/
This is absolutely delightful to read! It confirms that my weird things are not just mine alone.
1. sidewalk grates. I walk around them every time – much to the amusement of my man. I am just sure they will collapse and I’ll fall in.
2. opening those refrigerator biscuits. The wait for the pop just about kills me.
3. popping balloons. I get nervous anytime my kids have balloons in their hands.
4. I absolutely will NOT light a Coleman lantern with a match. Not. Ever. I choose the battery ones.
My biggest fear is the promise that was made to me after I had my first child. And it is now my reality. I was told by my husband that if we ever divorced he would take my child(ren)from me and I’d never see them. He’s done exactly what he said he’d do when he left me several years ago.
I know that I raised my children in love with Christ as the center of their lives. I was able to stay at home with them until they were taken. Please don’t ask what I did to deserve this, because there is no logical reason and it happens daily in our court system. 80% of men that fight for custody are granted sole custody.
Despite, or is it, in spite of my circumstance, my Lord and Savior has blessed me in extraordinary ways. I am much stronger spiritually than I’ve ever been. I have remained faithful to my values and have a joy that cannot be taken away. Nothing and no one can take Jesus away from me. My children know this. I text, “I love you”, send cards and give them a hug whenever I do get even a moment to see them. I attend all my son’s football games and hang around afterward to talk to & give him a hug.
I’m not giving up hope and I’ve decided, that this isn’t really a fear at all. My children have professed that they have Jesus in their hearts. Even if I never see them again on earth, I will spend eternity with them when we are called home. Praise the Lord for He is good.
Finally, I believe God:
He is who He says He is.
He can do what He says He can do. I am who He says I am.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and
God’s Word is alive and active in me.
Cindy, bless your heart, you and I have this in common. I, too, believed God in all of this and He has been EVER faithful in restoring our relationships over the years. Next week I get to be there for the birth of my first grandchild. God is our Everything, sweet Siesta!
Thank you Fran. That is wonderful news! God is truly faithful.
I’m cherishing the small but big things in my heart. Hugs and a grin from my (15 yr old)son and a touch of my (18 yr old) daughters shoulder the other night. I’m continuing to pray along with the cherishing.
Thank you for sharing and the encouragement.
Oh, do I ever have emetophobia, too!! I mean, I almost wrote a paper on it in school (Psychology) and it happens to be a common phobia. I have story after story of God’s grace on me in that area. I will do ANYTHING to keep from throwing up! I even have Zofran and Phenegren in my purse just in case I MIGHT have a twinge of nausea. I have gotten better through the years but it’s not pretty when someone gets the stomache virus around me. I run for the hills! My daughter laughs when she tells people about my fear and talks about how I used to check on her when she had the stomach virus with Lysol in one hand and my shirt over my face in the other (at the time I thought the stomache virus was air borne, which it is not). Tip from one emetophobe to another…wet wipes is supposed to kill the stomach virus and Lysol apparently doesn’t, according to the Internet. Needless to say, I have a lot of Wet Wipes around!! Here’s wishing NO stomach bugs forevermore!!! 🙂 Happy Saturday!!
I am also terrified of throwing up;( Fight it however I can. Besides that I have this recurring nightmare that I am stuck in a building, room, house, whatever and there is a lion or bear inside attacking. I have to try to figure out how to get out without it seeing me. Its awful!
E.T. My parents took me to see it when I was very little and I have been traumatized ever since. I used to never play on our neighborhood playground alone because I thought E.T. was circling the park to get me. To this day I can’t even hear the music without getting creeped out. My kids have a couple DVDs that have the trailer of E.T. on them and I have to skip it or leave the room!!!
Aww Heather… sorry to hear this… E.T. is one of my faves! (We might be about the same age, cause my parents took me to the theaters to see it when I was four.) Funny how the same media can affect people so differently.
My quirkiest fear is needing something quickly from my purse and not being able to find it. It’s amazing how something can get hopelessly and quickly lost, no matter the size of the purse. The pressure to find the item rachets up quickly when someone is standing there watching the frenzy. I was being seated at a Broadway play, feeling conspicuously Southern and not so smooth when I was asked to produce my ticket which I had just put back in my purse. After a quick dig yielded nothing, I said, I’ll be right back. I darted to an out of the way spot and continued the hunt. A member of my party came over in a minute to check on me. I have to have a private purse moment, I said. She went back and reported this to the very patient usher. When I came back, ticket in hand, the young man kept trying to reassure me that it was ok. Apparently everyone was ok with my purse frenzy. Except me.
Parking decks also scare me. The ceilings are so low. If possible, I will park anywhere else and walk and if I’m with someone I ask them to let me out of the car, and I will wait outside until they park. My husband does this automatically.
I think this may relate to the sinkhole irrational fear I have – something about being closed in…which goes along with my biggest fear – claustrophobia.
There is a beautiful new mausoleum at our local cemetery and I’ve made my wishes known to my family. 🙂 I’d lot rather be in a “drawer” than underground…
I agree about the parking garages. We used to have an SUV and I would creep along at a snails pace the whole time certain that I was going to hit the top of it on the ceiling!
Please give me a wide open parking lot!
My mom said I could add hers. She’s terrified of COTTON! It’s hilarious (well at least to me) she hates anything that even feels close to a cotton ball. I knit & when she’s yarn shopping with me I frequently will say “what do think of this one” then watch her pull back after she touches it. As a teenager I knew if I wanted her out of my room I didn’t need a lock. I just stuck cotton balls on my doorknob. 🙂
My bizarre fears, in no particular order:
Bridges
Meatloaf
Jello
Elevators
Lack of snow on Christmas
Men in jeggings
Clowns
Crowds (meaning more than 5 people)
Marie – Your “Men in jeggings” fear absolutely cracks me up! Hysterical!!!! And I agree.
I have this picture in my mind of a big bellied man wearing jeggings!!!
This has been the best therapy for me today! I’ve really needed to laugh so thank you.
My fear is legitimate, but still silly. I even have dreams that this will happen, and what would I do.
I’ve had this fear since I was in high school, about the time it started to become a possible issue, but since I’ve become a stay at home mom, it’s reach a new level for me.
I’m always afraid, in all the hurry of getting the kids ready and getting out of the house in one piece that I will forget to put on a bra…lol! And then I’ll be halfway through the grocery store and realize, oh my goodness, that while covered, I’m not quite socially appropriate.
I have never heard anyone else talk about being afraid of vomiting! Thanking the Lord I am not alone. I can definitely understand it. I hate it when someone who is sick goes to work and infects everyone. Yes, maybe they can say that they had a perfect attendance record, but what about the rest of the people? I’m graduating from college this month and beginning the quest for a full-time job (degree required). Even that doesn’t scare me as much as vomiting. Blah!
Don’t know if you’d call it a fear but I have a reoccurring dream that I’m falling off the washing machine into a HUGE pile of laundry. I’ve had this dream, a few times a year, as long as I can remember and I’m 43. I am terrified in my dream and have the falling sensation and EVERYTHING!lol… laundry doesn’t scare me (I’m a Mom of 3) but having that dream sure does! I wake up all clammy! My Mom used to say the laundry was gonna eat us one day because we always had a big pile of it. (4 girls in the family) Needless to say, mine is usually caught up!
Frogs & loose teeth. It just gives me the heebee grebes to have a little one show me their loose tooth.
I’ve laughed so much skimming through all these comments. And related to sooo many of them! I’ve been sitting here nodding my head in agreement with almost every one of them. Which kind of scares me in itself. lol
Probably my biggest most inexplicable fear is of my car going over the edge as we cross long bridges. Whoever’s driving the car CANNOT LOOK off to the side… what if the car veers? Don’t look at the pretty sunset or the people water skiing or fishing, just keep your eyes on the road please and thank you. These are bridges over water — overpasses, etc don’t bother me. But a bridge over a lake or waterway? Stay focused and HURRY PLEASE.
My other big one is bad guys in parking lots. I’d like to blame this one on Sydney Bristow. When I walk out of any store or building and I’m in a big parking lot, I know right where every person out there is around me, so no one sneaks up on me. It’s actually not too big a deal til I’m in a parking garage. I hate those things. That’s where all the bad stuff happens in the movies. 🙂
When I drive on a highway bridge over water in the winter, I always have fears that my car will go off the road and into the cold water and I won’t be able to get out.
There were times when I would actually put my windows down before I crossed over the water. Because I also feared
that if the car plunged into the water the power windows wouldn’t work and I would drown.
I’m afraid of getting stuck in an airplane bathroom. I don’t think the thought of it would bother me quite as badly if I didn’t have a tendency toward closterphobia. But the 2 combined just seems overwhelming to me.
Wow! Just thought I was afraid of seeing a bear in the woods but after reading these I realize I also hate bridges, escalators, sharks, parking garages, the dentist, flying, and the thought of eyes looking in at me through a window at night…thus all windows are covered at night. And high places. I used to think I was pretty normal but now realize what a mess I am! LOL…glad to see I’m not alone! 🙂
I also have emetophobia–and never met anyone else who shared this fear. Thanks for putting a name to it, and making me feel less freaky and unalone in that fear. There, I spilled it.
Sharks! and I live in Tennessee, so you would think I could avoid them 🙂
p.s. to my fellow vomit-phobes: keep activated charcoal on hand. If you start to get THAT feeling–it makes it stop. absorbs toxins in your belly. You can find it in vitamin supplements–it’s a pill, y’all. And you can open the pill up and mix it in yogurt for your kid (also you if you have a fear of swallowing pills 😉
Stop it! This is the best thing I’ve heard all day!
Lindsee Lu, this has been such a fun post! And I’m going to look for some of those vitamin supplements (activated charcoal)! I don’t have a fear of getting sick (unless we are about to head to Disney World!), but who could like it?!! Grin!
I freak out if I get too much water on my face kinda like claustraphobia I think.
One more: swimming in a lake. It freaks me out. I mean, what’s in there?????
Exactly!! Ewwww
I have a huge fear of getting into a head-on collision. Seems like the worst thing that could happen. I protest loudly and freeze up if my husband even ACTS like he wants to pass another car on a 2 lane road.
Also, since I am in recovery and go to AA meetings, I have a fear that in a non-AA meeting (work, community, church), during the time when you go around and introduce yourself, I may accidently say “My name is X and I am an alcoholic”. Thank goodness it’s never happened yet and I have been sober almost 22 years!
Anaphylaxis. Weird, right? I’m not even allergic to any foods but the that and other out-of-control scenarios scare me!
I have a fear of shower curtains especially in hotel rooms. I thank God that the curved curtain rod was invented, but i still hate touching the curtain.
I’m afraid of potato salad. And more broadly, just can’t bring myself to eat food made by people I don’t know. Mostly to do with potlucks, food days at work, that kind of thing. I can usually handle a fine dining place, but no idea why.
I KNOW why I can’t eat the potato salad. I was at my cousins’s wedding. All of my aunts were there, helping with the food. One of them, who was particularly unhygenic, was literally up to her elbows mixing the potato salad. As I was watching, she ringed her index finger & thumb around her arm just under her elbow & squeezed a little as she ran them down her arm to her wrist. Flicking the salad gathered back into the container. eeee-uuuwwwwww. I was ruined for life! 🙂
I’m a texture girl when it comes to food…any gristle, fat or slippery stuff is guaranteed to make me gag, even just thinking about it.
I don’t have too many irrational fears, but we do have this tall bridge in our area… The Sunshine Skyway over Tampa Bay has this beautiful view but I can only enjoy it if someone else is driving. I’ll be just fine then all of a sudden I get white knuckled. Also, they are always doing some kind of construction on the top and they put cones to make you scoot all the way over to the outside railing at 300 feet up (or what ever height)! It has a rising span in the center tall enough for cruise ships to enter and exit the port of Tampa, so imagine the height!! I once drove over with a waterspout just a few yards from the span while at the top.
Okay, I’m a lot better about the bridge thing than I used to be, but I do NOT want to drive over the Skyway! It is beautiful and in our area you pretty much can’t get around traveling on bridges, but I let my hubby drive on that one.
I am OCD about keys. I have a fear of being locked out of my car or home, so I keep touching my keys to be sure I still have them. Even if I have just put them in my purse, I still have to reach in and grab them before I can close my car door. If I go anywhere when my husband or daughter are driving, I make them show me the keys to be sure they don’t accidentally lock them in the car. What makes it even sillier is that my car won’t lock if the keys are inside, yet I still have to see and touch them.
If you can believe it? I have a fear of moths. If there is one any where close to me, I am out of there. And, I am calling (screaming) for assistance from Hubby to get rid of it NOW!
I have only read this page so far, but it has sure lightened up my day! My fear is that I CANNOT STAND to have to tow someone’s car with a chain or rope or strap, and I also refuse to be the tow-ee. The last time my husband towed me to the repair shop, I said I did not care what the wrecker costs, we are calling a wrecker the next time because it terrifies me.
I am a school nurse and once a terrified child came to me needing to go home rather than face going to band and playing alone for a “chair test”. It seems she had once farted while blowing her instrument, and was terrified that it would happen again in front of the whole class. Is there a word for “fear of farting”?
I also have a friend who hates to touch velvet. You would think this would be easy to avoid, but we act in community theater, and if they give you a velvet costume (or a person in a velvet costume that you have to hug) you’re stuck with it.
All. Of. This. Made. Me. Laugh.
Oh yeah! Towing! Thanks for reminding me, Kerry! My truck went through a spell where we had to tow it several times. My husband is a total do-it-yourselfer — will not call a tow truck. Anyway, I cried the whole time, every time we had to tow that truck. It’s horrible!!
Boomerangs! I know. Weird, right? I had a bad dream about them in elementary school, and now at age 43, I still can’t look at them without feeling a little anxious.
Reptiles of all kinds and especially Frogs!!!
I used to be a tomboy and play with tadpoles and frogs alot and then one day walked in the woods, and one jumped on my foot and croaked and then I couldn’t seem to shake it loose and now … well even seeing pictures of them really almost puts me over the edge.
Sad but true!
Frogs. Terrified of them. Friends and family like to tell me how silly this is and how frogs can’t hurt me – and I like to tell them right back “This is why it’s an IRRATIONAL fear!”
But I did have an unfortunate experience with a tree frog stuck to my leg while I was driving very fast on a highway that has permanently scarred me.
I have a slight … fear … that someone might be hiding behind the shower curtain in any hotel room I check in to.
Just typing it makes me realize how dumb that is.
But seriously, what if someone’s in there?
I know, crazy.
But I always check.
Just to be sure 🙂
I always check the shower and the closet as soon as I check into a hotel room, especially if I am by myself for work. I also will not stay in a motel (doors open to the outside) for fear someone will come through the doors.
I am very fearful of driving behind trucks that are carrying very long poles or logs…always afraid they are going to fall off!!
Claustrophobia – I get anxious just thinking about being someplace I can’t escape.
Cindy, who had your children taken away. All I can say is, “wow”. You are a wonderful testimony. Your faith and trust in God through this is inspiring. May the Lord bless you abundantly for holding on to Him and His promises to you through this.
My fear: is losing my sight completely. I lost the sight in my right eye 7 yrs. ago and am legally blind in my left. By God’s grace, I’m still able to work as a graphic artist. I am very thankful for the sight I do have. I pray that He will be glorified through the ability He gave me.
Michelle in Maine
Michelle, Thank you.
My husband had a much better lawyer than mine. He has family connections with local politics. It’s all convoluted and I would have never believed it would happen until it happened to me.
I don’t think I would be here if it wasn’t for Jesus and the people He has surrounded me with.
Well Lindsee you and I are campers together in the same camp. Thank you for giving my NUMBER 1 phobia a name. I am not kidding at all.
I’m on the worship team for our church and often get teased for sanitizing my microphone before each session because I fear the germs that may be lingering on it. Hey, you don’t know where it’s been or who has slobbered on it while singing last time, right?
I also feel the same way about sharing a drink of any kind with anyone, including my husband. He thinks it’s silly because I kiss him on the lips, but I won’t take a drink or share a bite from the same silverware with him. You would think after 23 years of marriage I would be able to do this, but I just can’t pull myself to do it. So strange.
Dear Lindsee, that’s the last time I ever read the blog while eating breakfast!
My most bizarre fear involves being afraid to telephone people for fear they won’t answer if they know it’s me (thanks to caller ID).
I have a fear of falling and re-injuring a broken left hip. My balance is not the best so I have been lucky not to have fallen too hard on my hip.
I know this sounds crazy, but I’m afraid of leprechauns. My dad let me see the “scary” movie when I was little and I’ve been terrified ever since. When I was in kindergarten a “leprechaun” came to the classroom while everyone was at lunch and messed up the room while looking for his gold on St. Patricks Day. When I was told this happened I became hysterical and made the teachers check every inch of the room before I would go back in there for a week or so. lol Yeah, it’s gotten better over time but I still do not care for St. Patricks Day.
Any hair that is found in food or around the table area is a definite “gagger”! Ruins me for a week!
There are 3 huge fears I have:
1. Bridges: I will pay someone to drive me over one or if I am the passenger I will be on the floor.
2. Heights
3. SNAKES: I can vomit just looking at them on TV and avoid the reptile house at the zoo.
After reading a bunch of fears, I think I’m developing some new ones.
I am also afraid of opening canned biscuits. I used to get someone else to open them for me. And I also am afraid of someone looking through the window at me. As a child I was afraid someone was in the yard looking through the window at me going to shoot me. I lived in a small and very safe town (like Mayberry). I’m sure no one cared what I was doing in the house and never watched me.
Fear of being put in jail. Now I’m a very law-abiding citizen, but since I was very young I’ve have a fear of being falsely accused. This fear doesn’t over-take me, but it does pop in my head now and then. Why, why, why. So weird.
Birds
Elevators
Crowds
Snakes
Amusement Park Rides
Loud Noises
There with you with the fear of vomiting. I also have a fear of crying at weddings. And clowns. And clowns at weddings. Lol
Dear Lindsee,
Girl I am totally with you reguarding the FEAR OF EMETOPHOBIA! I will share a quick story and I believe God’s sense of humor.. Recently while on vacation in sunny Arizona with my husband I had to face my fear with this. While out and about shopping at the Christian book store I told my husband I think we need to go my stomache really is not feeling well. Not familiar with area and relying on GPS to get us back to my friends place. I was really getting more and more nauseated and fearful I would not make it in time. I began praying Lord please help us find a vacant lot some where to pullover. Well a few blocks away guess what?? A vacant lot.. and not only a vacant lot, but a small building which we drove in back of. This small building happened to be a Liquor store of all things :)I was so thankful and chuckled to myself just how God provides!!!