wow... you've both touched on what I was going to say. Mine is burning to death (maybe I was burned at the stake in a past life?). But as I was thinking about it earlier this afternoon, I was thinking about the victims of the World Trade Center and how some of them had to make a quick choice between being burned to death or jumping to their death. A lot of them chose to jump, and I was thinking I was right there with them. I absolutely would have jumped to avoid the flames. But then, I started to imagine myself making that jump, and the incredible fear I would have to endure, and in the case of such a tall building, that fear might last for quite a while... maybe I fear fear more than anything. I still think I would jump. My fear of fire goes way back. We had so many fire drills and visits from firemen when I was a little girl in grammar school, that I was even afraid to light a candle in Sunday school... I'd get knots in my stomach. I don't have any problem lighting matches, candles, or even campfires now, but I sure wouldn't want to be burned in one. I'm not afraid to die. I'm just afraid to suffer agonizing physical pain (it seems that I can endure a lot of emotional pain). But that brings up your point, beyondtheveil, that surviving a bad burn and living would be even worse than dying from it, because you'd have to relive that hell every day for a long time until you finally healed. That's my worst physical fear.
I used to think that my greatest fear was sinking into a bad depression and never being able to climb back out of it. I don't know which would be worse. I was reading about a burning last night in a novel, and that's what got me to thinking about this. Do you think that the anticipation of something happening, in other words, the fear itself, can be worse than having the thing actually happen?
I also have two. My first one is being strangled. It terrifies me to the point where I can't stand anything even brushing across the front of my neck. I turtle necks and scarves are always worn loosely so they never touch my skin. :)
My second one is losing control of my car and ending up in water. I start flipping out if we are driving close to a river or lake. I used to carry the window punch and seatbelt cutter in my glove box until my oldest cut the straps for in his brothers carseat...."Mommy! I set him free!!" Thank God the opening to the blade is only wide enough to slip over a seatbelt and they couldn't have cut themselves...but I did have to by a new carseat.
Hey Kruu!
I'll keep this one short...nap time for Daughter.
Aside from something happening to HER, my biggest fear is "Dooms Day!" I fear that I'm the one that will survive it and that'd suck!
Daily
My biggest fear is remaining paralized.
Not being able to touch anymore, not hugging, not running, not walking, not living any of the amazing small actions the we take for granted each single day.
Being dependent and being stuck in that bed for the rest of my life.
I am not scared of death. But i am scared of the pain before my death....i dont want to die with the conscience to die. When you are dead death is not there with you, when you are alive again death is no there. So in the end me and death will meet only for a nanosecond. What is beyond death is a mistery for everybody so i dont carry any fear for that. It will be what it will be.
But the pain can last for one life. And the conscience of an imminent death is unbearable.
Kruu....maybe you were a witch, like me......and they burned us alive...lol..
momsrock: If it weren't so potentially dangerous, that would be a really funny story (about your son setting the other one "free") I hope you'll forgive me if I smiled over that one anyway. I'll bet looking into some guidelines on what to do if your car landed in water would go a long way toward calming that fear. I doubt if it would eliminate it, but you might be able to breathe easier in some of those driving situations. I tend to panic if I'm in the passenger's seat on a mountain road with a really steep dropoff... doesn't matter if there's water or not... but when I'm driving, I feel okay... I'm in control (usually).
daily:
Kruu: I would think that I'd have to be smart and re-invent everything, lol. But only for me! I know I would be saddened by the loss of my entire family. I know seeing dead people everywhere would totally kill me! Watching the limited coverage of Katrina aftermath had me in a state I couldn't describe. I feel for all those people that had to see what they saw!
Ginger: That's a fear I have too. Just the thought of it sends chills up my spine. I'm going to take my meds....starting to lose it here, lol!
Mom: Lay down and take a nap after looting? LMAO!
Daily
beyond: lol Believe me, I'm nobody's hero. I think gingersoul got it right. I was probably just some nasty old witch! :)
mobil: I can understand that one. I actually don't go camping in bear territory anymore (and I never did it in grizzly territory). When I was in geology field camp in Idaho during college, the prof was always warning us about not getting between a cub and its mother. Then, one day, we were on a group reconnaisance, and we saw a cub on the other end of the valley for us... but the worst thing was... we didn't see the mother. That, of course, meant that we could be between her and the cub. I was amazed (and really pissed off) that the prof (a militaristic, alcoholic old geologist) didn't let us haul ass out of there and just kept pointing out the geology as if nothing were amiss (and nobody in the group had a firearm). That was one of the scarier moments of my life.
ginger: That is really a fascinating point that you bring up about death meeting us only for a nanosecond. I never thought about it before, but I guess it's true that it takes only an instant to die. Hmmm. For myself, I think I would want to die with consciousness. I would just want it to be without pain. I'm much more afraid of pain than of dying. But if I had a terminal illness, I would want to know, so that I could prepare myself mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and take care of any unfinished business. Of course, I wouldn't mind dying in my sleep. (I would just want to know ahead of time that death was imminent).
When I was walking home from the streetcar stop tonight, I was thinking about this post, and I think that I also have a great fear of wasting my life. Or maybe not fear exactly (I mean, it doesn't scare me like the thought of being burned alive), but I worry about it a LOT. I think that our most important task in life is to prepare ourselves for death, which for me, means striving for spiritual enlightenment (which can take on many forms). But goddess knows I haven't made much movement in that direction.
mom: Boy, THAT would be one shop til you drop extravaganza, wouldn't it? Think of all the cool stuff you could find. I always shop in second hand shops anyway, so I would be in seventh heaven. Hey, I see your Psycho Woman post down on the related posts spot... I've gotta go check that out.
daily: wow, any time I've imagined being the last person on earth, I never pictured dead bodies. Goes to show you what an idealist I am. Did you ever read that story by Ray Bradbury where this guy thinks he's the last person on earth, but he's not sure, so he keeps randomly punching in phone numbers all over the place, just hoping he'll find someone. But he never gets an answer. And then one day, his phone rings, and it's a woman who also thought she might be the last person on earth. She talks his ears off, and he can't stand her, so he moves far, far away from his telephone. :) With my luck, I'd be one of the last two people on earth, and I'd find out that the other one is Fritz!
mom: LOL ... cooked and ready to eat.... well, I nuke my food all the time now, so I guess what's the difference? You'll have to fill me in on Resident Evil. I never saw that one.
Mimi......that's why i fear so much living in that way...having so much to give and communicate and simply not being able to do it....your friend is so lucky to have you visiting and making him feel your love for him....very lucky {{hugs}}
Secret......{i hug you tighlty}
Kruu......i am living presently my second biggest fear....wasting my life and not giving my daughter the best she deserves....the fear of being physically paralized reflects im my fear of being emotionallly paralized....the Limbo sometimes can be worst than hell... ..seeing your days going by and not feeling that fullness the life is giving to other so freely...
Grape...funny....my brother and my mom share the same fear that you have...birds....
Jenna....i have fear of heights too....and falling is not having control of your will....that's why i dont like to fly....but i fight it and fly...:-).
Wow, I go away for a day and everyone comes calling! How wonderful to see all these thoughtful responses.
mommyof2: Yes, the loss of loved ones seems to be a recurring theme here. I'm sure most people share that one. I've already lost all my loved ones and survived, but when the first one went, I didn't think I would ever be able to get over it.
Jenna: That's amazing. That's the first time I've heard of a dream generating a new fear that wasn't there before (instead of the other way around). I like to dabble in dream interpretation (for myself only, because I think a lot of the interpretation is so dependent on what's happening in the dreamer's life), and I think that kind of falling off a cliff in a dream can represent something positive... like taking a big step, and letting go of something you're clinging to.... it's scary, but also liberating. Of course, in most dreams, you wake up before you hit the ground, so the dream doesn't give you all the information you need, but there are a lot of books (and probably information on the internet) about lucid dreaming (being aware that you are dreaming) and you might be able to reshape your dreams to bring yourself safely onto terra firma after the fall. The best way to understand the meaning of a dream like that would be to ask yourself if there's something else that is terrifying you, but that once done, might set you free (and I don't mean in the sense that mom's son set his little brother free... lol). Sorry for the unsolicited advice. I just can't help myself when it comes to dreams.
secret: I can understand that one... especially since I don't have health insurance. Sudden death is okay.... a long, drawn out illness would be more of a problem.
Mimi: That was absolutely beautiful what you said to ginger.
grape: For you, I prescribe reading the book Jonathon Livingston Seagull lol. :) But seriously, I used to be terrified of ducks and geese when I was a little girl. I think it was because of a dream I had that I went into my parents bedroom one night because I'd had a nightmare and I wanted to ask if I could sleep with them, and in the dark, while I was approaching their bed, I could swear I saw a giant goose with a big rock on its head that it wanted to throw at me. To make matters worse, when I woke up the folks, they just told me to go back to bed. The next time we went to Old MacDonald's Little Farm (a petting zoo), I went hysterical when I saw the ducks and geese and wouldn't even let my dad carry me past them. He had to sit in the car with me while everyone else went on a hayride... kind of serves him right. :) I was also terrified of butterflies when I was little and would run screaming into the house every time I saw one.
ginger: that's a really good insight into your fear.
mom: that's hysterical about payday at Walmart... you are one funny lady!
eclipsa: I remember how we had to hide out in the basement all the time during tornado season when I was a kid. It was both scary and thrilling at the same time. I can't say that I like tornadoes (I'm sure I'd shit a brick if I ever saw one in real life), but I really love tornado weather... warm, wild winds. It's my favorite. The air feels so... alive. I've dreamed about tornadoes often (probably watched the Wizard of Oz one too many times), and those are usually really scary dreams. But one time, I dreamed that I watched 12 of them touch down simultaneously, and then it turned into a sci-fi dream where cars were driving on a highway that went right up into the sky, and between all the tornadoes, and they disappeared into a different dimension.... ooops, am I getting off the subject?
twinboyzmama: I remember that earthquake in '89, but I wasn't in it. That really would have been terrifying. The only earthquake I was ever in was so mild that it was over by the time I realized what it was.
queenparanoia:
fuckedupgirl: I suffered through eight years of obsession with my unrequited love, and I eventually did fall out of love with him. I'm sure you will, too. I know it's not something you can do on command, but it's a lot harder to be open to the guys that really do care about you when you're focused on someone who's unavailable. Your real true love could be just around the corner, but you won't be able to appreciate him until you let go of your attachment. BTW, I've seen your comments a couple of times, and I feel a little sad when I see your name, because I wonder if that's really how you see yourself. I don't see you as fucked up at all... just very human. {{{{hugs}}}}
silver: that's one nobody's brought up yet. I've often wondered about people with dimentia... if they're really unhappy, or maybe they're more happy without a lot of troublesome memories. For myself, I think I'd be more afraid of having that happen to someone I loved than to myself... you know, it can be really traumatic to have a loved one not recognize you anymore... but it goes both ways, because we wouldn't want to hurt our loved ones by not recognizing them either and having them live through all that pain because of us.
anon: I think I'd rather be buried alive than burn to death any day of the week. I mean, you just lose oxygen and fall asleep and die peacefully. No pain. I guess the worse part of being buried alive would be if you couldn't get your mind to accept it, and you panicked and had to live through all that fear, which brings us back to JFK quoting Roosevelt or someone (help me here, folks) "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
fug: gotcha' ;-)
Mimi: yes, that's something that none of us look forward to. I did some volunteer work last fall in England at a holiday center for people with physical disabilities. Many of them had MS or CP or other debilitating diseases that left them in various states of paralysis. Some had no control over their own bodies whatsoever. Fortunately, the volunteers and staff that helped them with every aspect of their holiday, including their personal care, were amazingly caring and treated the guests with so much dignity. Some of the people had been disabled for decades. One woman told me that, at first, she used to insist on female caregivers, but at one point, she realized that sometimes, it was either going to be a man or nobody... it just depended on who was available. But she said she got over her embarassment very quickly because of how respectful her male caregiver was, and her permanent helper now is a man, who through the intimacy that generally happens when you spend that much time with someone, has gotten to be a good friend. Sometimes, our troubles are blessings in disguise. When we need help with something (whether it's something physical or otherwise) we often end up meeting wonderfully caring and helpful people that we wouldn't have met otherwise.
Gotta throw in my two cents...
My fears are kinda stupid: Hypodermic needles (I don't have a phobia of them anymore but I'd still rather stay away from them) and swimming in water where I can't see what's underneath me.
As far as dying goes, I'd prefer it to be quick and not drawn out in some torturous manner.
Oh, and I used to be terrified of being ALONE without a man to "take care of me". Now I know I don't NEED one and that I'm perfectly able to take care of myself and my kids. ~^^
purr: I'm more afraid when I can see what's underneath me when I'm swimming. Once, I went snorkeling near the Bahamas, and there was was so much coral in the shallow sea, that I was terrified that I wasn't going to be able to keep my legs up high enough to avoid getting scraped on them.
ed: I haven't seen that movie. I checked out the link, but the description didn't tell me how the story ties back into the old lady in the nursing home. Since i'm not likely to get to see this movie anytime soon, can you fill me in? please? :)