What Are You Afraid Of?

Have you ever sat down and thought about what you are afraid of? I have and surprisingly I have a long list. What is amazing is, in today's society, there is an actually name for most of the phobia's people have.

Take me for example.

I am afraid of:

Heights - Acrophobia, Aeroacrophobia, Altophobia, Batophobia,
Planes (Flying) - Aviophobia, Aviatophobia, Pteromerhanophobia
Sharks - Selachophobia
Boats
Ocean
Driving - Dystychiphobia
Drowning
Thunder Storms: Astraphobia, Astrapophobia, Ceraunophobia, Keraunophoibia, Brontophobia,

Perhaps you can see a pattern here. I am a control freak. I am afraid of heights, so afraid of them, I can not even get in a plane. Being afraid of heights has given me a fear of planes.

I am afraid of sharks, which makes me fear the ocean.

Because I am afraid of drowning, sharks, and the ocean, I have a fear of getting on boats.

I am afraid to drive, not because I can not drive, but because I am afraid of getting in an accident. Unfortunately, I can control my own driving, but I can not control everyone else's. This makes me afraid to drive.

Thunder storms scare me to death. Mostly because of how deadly they can be if they turn into a hurricane or tornado.

I am afraid to go down in my basement. I always expect something evil to be down there waiting for me.

I am afraid to have windows and doors open at any time.

Yeah, I will admit I am a bit paranoid, and rather pathetic in my fears. Most of them I can handle easy enough, so I do not consider them a phobia. However, my fear of heights and the ocean is genuine.

I hope to some day overcome my fear of heights because I would love to go to Egypt, Greece and Scotland, however, it will not be anytime soon.

Basically to sum up my own fears, it all comes down to control. I am afraid to be in a situation where I am not in control. The ocean tides can drown you. A shark can tear you apart. A bad storm can take your life.

Phobia's are a fascinating subject. Many people assume that because you fear something there is not a logical reason. My husband is one of these people. I recall our trip to Florida in February, and he wanted our son to see the ocean. I had refused, and he reluctantly agreed. Than on our last day there we go to the zoo. Afterwards, he says we are going to drive around and sight see. His sightseeing was to go to Miami Beach.

You can imagine my reaction. I was so close to tears because of it, and angry. It was not that he did not care, but rather he did not see my fear of the ocean as being more than a ridiculous fear and more of me disliking something. For example, I dislike snakes but I am not afraid of them. Of course, I will scream like a little girl when I see one, but it is more from being startled.

Which brings me to the end of my story. Whether it is fears of flying or fears of clown, it is important to remember that a persons fear should be taken seriously. If you are interested in finding out if there is a name for your fear, than I recommend checking out phobialist.com. This list is very detailed, and it may even surprise you how many phobia's there are.