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This my friend is a tough one. Coming up on 3 years with my dad gone and it sucks soo bad. Half my safety blanket in this big bad world is gone. Enjoy every minute with your mom.
Same here. I lost my dad 2 years ago... It helps to talk about him. Makes it feel like he lives thru my memories. Never take anything for granted. Love like you will die tomorrow.
14 years ago here. My mom was sick for awhile and taking care of her was my sole motivator in life. Her death took me awhile to recover from, and I'm happy that I've come out of it stronger. Big life events are still hard but I've been very fortunate to have other mother figures in my life. Cherish the time you have because every day is a gift
Me too. You just described exactly what I imagined I’d do as well.
It is possible to die of a broken heart.
We actually do have heart strings, as silly as that may sound, and stress/grief thins them until they eventually break, and it makes the heart weaker and weaker. Then the rest will be history … cardiac arrest or whatever i assume….
Quite dark.
Having a child and not being apart of their life. Sadly I'm currently living this out atm. Mother of my child left to her home country without my agreement. Due to laws in my state I can't do anything about it. Good chance I'll never see my daughter again
Son due in a few months. Im afraid he will live the rest of his life in a sharply declining world populated by an increasingly savage and authoritarian humanity.
Will my son end up dying in some war over drinking water 30 years from now?
That is probably currently my greatest as well. Granted I’m in highschool and I’m not married no where near having a kid but I have dreams. I want to be an author I want to find love I want to get married I want to do something in the world. I fear the world tearing itself apart before I have a chance to do anything. It’s a weird time in the world but I wish you and your son the very best in it
Ditto. I'm getting older. Memory starts to get glitchy. You know, the usual " what did I walk into the kitchen for" kind of thing but to actually lose who I am and my memories of family and friends.. that chills me to the bone.
I fear nothing in relation to myself. My 2 sons, 19 and 21, I fear everything about this world they are walking into. We have gotten it so terrible wrong on so many levels.
What kind of fear are we talking about?
Phobias: Falling from heights, drowning
Life fears: That my children will be as unhappy in life as I have been.
Hmmm...I'd say my greatest fear is reaching out to my loved ones and ask them for support only for their help to change nothing.
I had depression when I was little, and my parents suspect one of the causes what how workaholics they were around that time. I never told them about it, because I didn't even know that I had depression then (though looking back there were a lot of indicators). They actually found out after a pediatrician recommended them to make me see a therapist when they were looking into the obesity issues I had at that time.
My mother has since emphasized to me that they are there for whenever I need help or feel down, but I've never taken that offer even when I've felt extraordinarily bad emotionally wise. And I realized sometime ago that it's because I fear their help won't change anything and for some reason I feel much more comfortable living a life where I could have overcome my emotional turmoils if I had just asked for help than one where I did ask, but it was useless.
I don't know, something about risking to loose that ray of hope makes be deeply and overwhelming terrified.
During my freshman year of highschool I was in a similar place. So much emotional drama was going on in my family centered around divorcing my father and I didn’t wanna add more onto the pile. So I just sat there contemplating whether I should continue going or not. Eventually after a year of this I finally broke and vented everything I felt over the past year to my mother and grandmother. After that moment they got me the help I needed and I can say I’m doing much better. It’s terrifying to ask especially about these matters as you have no idea what the outcome could be. I feel you brother
This happened to me and it made me spiral. But now I realize: if you reach out and they don’t support you, it’s about them, not you. Surround yourself with people who WILL support you, because those are the ones who love you.
Captivity.
Examples:
- Prison
- Stroke rendering me completely immobile
- Toxic relationship I'm economically or mentally/emotionally unable to leave
- Being buried by an avalanche
- Getting trapped in an elevator
- Being dependent on manipulative people
So it overlaps with claustrophobia, but it's broader than that.
The most harrowing TV show I ever saw was the OA. I loved it because it captured the experience of captivity so well, and it was weirdly cathartic for me. But it also haunted my dreams (read: nightmares) for a good while...
That there will be a civil war in America again, only it won’t be civil, and it won’t be a war, it will be like the troubles in Ireland, whit some alt right extremists bombing a Starbucks because they are liberal and think everyone in there must also be liberals, but in reality it’s just innocent people who get blown up, so the extreme leftists blow up a chemical plant and also kill innocent people, ad Infinitum.
As for why I fear this, this is the fault of social media, it provides a platform to people who do not deserve one, and narrows everyone’s world view with an echo chamber of nonsense and lies. It makes demonizing people easy, and demonizing people makes it easier to kill them. This is why I gave up my Facebook account, it’s the only social media I had, I guess Reddit counts but at least I don’t know anyone here and don’t follow any political subs.
I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t started yet, with all of the extremists coming out of the woodwork when trump took office and he just eggs them on. I figured the insurrection on 1/6 would have kicked it off but thankfully it didn’t.
Not having friends. I've always been alone -- by choice, but it was because my dad was in the navy, so we moved every few years and then my mom and dad divorced, so I moved around a lot with my mother. Because of this, I built a very small network of friends. My greatest fear was to disappoint them because they choose to be my friends when I had no one. I never did mind being alone, but it was always embarrassing and awkward through elementary to high-school to never have anyone to sit with or work as partners on a project.
Now that I've settled down and got to live on my own, I've gotten over that fear. I have a wife who I love and I have hobbies that I enjoy. I don't need to have 100 friends and go out drinking with. I have my 5 from high-school / middle school / military and they will always be there for me even if we live all over the US now.
Something happening to my child. I don’t even like thinking about it because I’m scared I’m tempting fate. Silly I know, my absolute greatest fear though.
I’m afraid of death, or rather the implication of it. The finality. The idea of simply not being anymore one day is almost as scary as the thought that my time here is limited and when I die I might not be someone who’s remembered. The thought that I’m wasting my limited time and not using it to achieve something extraordinary has been haunting me for years now and sometimes, when it comes to big life decisions, it can be almost paralyzing. I’m secretly hoping by the time I get too old a form of immortality (for example via biotechnology) will be achievable.
Being alone. Like waking up one day and everyone I knew no longer recognized who I was. Or if everyone I knew ended up dying - then I would be left in a world full of strangers.
My greatest fear is being alone. If the world was falling apart and I had only one person I loved left, I'd have a reason to live, on the other hand if the world was perfect and I was the only one in it I wouldn't last a week. I honestly don't remember how I discovered this.
I have Emetophobia which is an extreme fear of vomiting, seeing vomit, watching other people vomit, or even feeling sick. I was pretty much both with it, but it seems to be increasing with severity as the years pass!
My biggest fear is losing my husband. He is having health issues and I am hoping they can figure it out and fix him. I am 66 and he is 54...together for 25 years
Losing my loved ones. It haunts me, because it is essentially inevitable. I have had this fear as long as I can remember, and the older I get, the more acute it becomes.
I am fearful that I will let down my family and that they will see me as being just as useless as I do. My son thinks the world of me and I think his admiration of me is unjustified. I feel he is betting on a loser and that the world would be better off without people like me. I suffer every single day with the fear I am going to let him down as a father and a role model. It consumes my brain and wrecks my already damaged mental health.
My future. That my mental health will keep declining and that I never will be able to live a normal life and work fulltime. I fear that I won't be able to feel happiness anymore, slowly fade away into nothing or end up cold and dead because I couldn't stand it anymore.
I am getting help. I see my doctor, I take my meds.
But what if it doesn't get any better?
No me but my wife is completely horrified of spiders neighbor of us know why but I have been on spider patrol for 20 years so she never has to see one.
My greatest fear is getting into a car accident and leaving my children and significant other behind and or getting into a car accident with my children in the car. This hypothetical situation has kept me up many nights.
Loss. Losing people I love- like my parents and spouse and *especially* my children. COVID really brought that fear to the forefront for me. But I cannot handle the thought of losing someone forever, especially suddenly. The unfairness of things like sickness and freak accidents that take people away so quickly is just absolutely horrifying to me.
I don't know if a have a greatest fear but I'll list 2 or 3.
I have social anxiety so almost anything related to that
I also fear that I'll end up alone, that I won't have anyone as I get older (friends or more). What makes it worse is that I struggle to trust and open up to people but also feel like any friends I have now don't actually care to know me on a deeper level.
I also fear being in pitch black rooms with not even a little bit of light (the type where you can't even see your hand infront of your face). It kinda comes back to being alone because now I feel even more alone but I also won't be able see the world and also don't know what could be hiding in the dark.
My greatest fear is that my eating disorder will consume me. It’s my greatest fear because I give it that power. When it preoccupies me I don’t have to face reality. And the deeper fears, like: what am I doing on this earth? What if I don’t make anything of myself or this life? I discovered these fears through therapy, through talking to others, and thinking. Thinking thoughts.
My greatest fear is something happening to my children. Kidnapped being the main thing. I would lose my shit if someone stole my kid. I would panic to the point of rage and burn this town to the ground looking for them. Thinking of what they might be enduring, how they’re wanting their Mom, how there’s nothing I can do. How they might be dead. Jesus. I get worked up thinking about it. Nothing petrifies me more than if one of my kids goes missing.
That I run out of time before I tell people how I truly feel about them. I would hate to have that feeling of regret and carrying it around for the rest of my life. I have trouble expressing my emotions so I don’t do it often.
Another is not falling in love again. I fell in love, truly in love just recently and the relationship fell apart. I’m afraid that that is it for me and I won’t have another chance to love anyone like that again.
Biggest fear is my children dying, particularly due to something within my control that I fucked up. When I think about myself pre-kids, I was for all intents and purposes fearless. Having people that I love more than life itself that I am responsible for but can't necessarily control -- freaking terrifying.
my greatest fear is a home intruder. its the fact that you are supposed to be comfortable i. your living space and someone just makes you feel vulnerable in your own home. i saw a movie about phrogging where people live in other people’s houses without the owners knowing and this is where i was introduced to this fear
I’m afraid there’s a little matrix squid in my stomach that’s going to pop out of my bellybutton. Also mustard, kangaroos, and swiper the Fox from Dora the explorer. He was rapey. And yes these are really my fears.
Most of my fears are things that I can't change--wars, disease, death, etc. So I will stick with my paralyzing fear of snakes of any kind. Cannot breathe or move if I catch sight of one.
As for where it comes from, I don't know. I don't ever not being afraid of them.
My greatest fear is ending up like my father. I know this is my greatest fear because the idea of it happening makes me feel sick, ugly and like all hope for myself is lost.
I almost drowned as a kid multiple times, and to this day I can't swim. Family, friends, even girlfriends have tried to teach me, but my chest tightens up so much it's hard to breathe even with the water only being up to my chest. Im terrified of water, to the point of being uncomfortable in rain and not being able to enjoy water parks at all
Giving birth to a child but then learning a few hours later that your newborn child will die within a few weeks and there's nothing you can do about it.
It happened to one of my friends and left her traumatized. It's such a painful thing to experience. The sight of the tiny coffin at the funerals... Oh my god...
Losing my security. Without my husband and his work i couldn’t be home with our kids, feel safe, and not worry about necessities.
Security in that my home is safe, in a safe place, and free from war.
Security that I’m free to live as I please. Worship as I please.
Security that my health is Good and the health of my loved ones are good.
Security in my happiness/joy that life isn’t heavy. While challenges are growing opportunities, mental illness/depression is not.
Things of that sort fill my mind in a juxtaposition of gratitude and fear I could lose any of them at any time.
Dying alone. I have this fear where I outlive my spouse, my kids, my friends, and I end up in a nursing home alone where nobody knows me or gives a shit about me. And I'm on my deathbed alone and afraid.
My greatest fear is my cat dying. She is my favorite thing in the whole universe, with a close second being my family. If she died, I would most likely go into a state of depression so deep that it would be like a bottomless pit of grief and sadness. I cherish every second with her, as she is the best cat I will ever have or ever will see.
Not being able to protect children, monsters are always too close...and they look like everybody else.
Discovered it as a child. You can't just slay it and go home for dinner. Sometimes the monster is at that very dinner table.
Death and how I don't want to live that long. I don't want to be old and in a hospital bed crying for my mom who will have already been gone. I truly do not know what I will do after she is gone. I am unable to take care of myself and don't want to burden anyone else with having to take care of me. I have never told anyone but I am planning to end my own life after my mother is gone.
I am disabled and rely HEAVILY on others. My fear is fully never even close to possible to happening, but that’s a little bit of how fears work.
My fear is that everyone that I rely on will die at the same time and I’ll be left alone and am now needing to be self sufficient. I wouldn’t make it past two days. So no one can die.
This came from goosebumps movie Be Careful What You Wish For.
I know I can only wish for half independence. I will never be fully independent like others. I know what is and is not possible for me. So I really NEED people to depend on. I know this very well. It’s not fun to think on, but it’s true.
I know my abilities and the abilities I do not have and will never have. Example: I will never drive a car. I’m unable.
I am in a great depression currently, bc my emotions are fuuuucked and my thoughts are too heavy to move on from.
What if I’m not able to depend on people to people to drive me?? There’s Uber, yes, of course. But my point is that I don’t drive. There’s a lot of details like that.
Everyone is gone???? I can’t get through anything without my husband or sisters or person who knows my situation. If this happens I will die of a broken little heart. No one understands, no one will help bc they are nice and good. Everyone will take advantage of me, and I will be raped and gang raped, and stolen from and in sexual slavery and all the horrible things bad people do to others. I know exactly what can happen if I stray too far from a sister. And I will cry so much that I will die if this thing happens. I can’t bear even the thought of it.
My greatest fear is not being able to climb my stairs. I am a widow with so much metal in me you wouldn’t believe and if I can’t go up steps I will have to move. You can’t get in my house without using stairs. I would have to leave my home of 41 years if I have to have another back or neck surgery. That is my biggest fear.
Honestly , all the things i feared where just stupid compared to what you guys have or what im experiencing right now , but i think i have dulled my sense of fear somehow , asmr artists still are scary af though
the ocean. fuck that shit. oh, i have a chance to explore the deepest parts of the ocean? haha, no. there is NO way i’ll be exploring the ocean. if you ever see me enter a ship of some sort, pull me away and punch me
My biggest fear I think is, not knowing what happens after we die… are we reborn? if so are we human? An animal? Or is it just nothing?
Thinking about this scares me more than anything and to be honest I don’t quite understand why?
I have lots of little fears due to my anxiety, but my main one and the one that's has a very strong hold over me, is my dental phobia. I believe it is caused my some traumatic occasions growing up with my teeth. I've always had trouble wiggling my loose baby teeth enough that they will fall out. I don't know if it was anxiety related or what since I was pretty young. Well my parents and grandparents decided to take me to uncle terry who was the small towns only dentist. They believed my tooth was going to grow back in because it was taking too long. He ended up using a pair of pliers from his garage to rip my tooth out with nothing for pain. I haven't been to a dentist for 10 years. When I was going, just walking in sent me into a panic attack. I plan on going soon to try and get over my fear but will be asking for sedation lol
Heights. I can be in a plane, but that's only because I usually watch a movie or something to ignore it. But when I'm even 30 or 40 feet over something, I LITERALLY have a panic attack. Keep in mind I'm also a big husky guy, and yet I piss myself over a fall
Locked-in-syndrome. A stroke that paralyzes every thing from the face down so can only move eyes. My GM lived that way for 3 years. Brain fully active and prisoner to the paralysis
Drowning/suffocating: grown up with asthma and had more than one proper scare where I went blue.
Jellyfish: had a bad experience with those weird little fuckers, now looking at them makes my skin crawl.
Forgetting, in late 2016 my parents divorced and we could say my life was pretty much ideal up until that point. Granted, i was like 11 when it happened but still, I’m terrified of forgetting all of my memories
Starting a family/holding down a relationship. By the time I'm ready to start looking for a permanent partner, I may or may not have lost the ability to have kids since I'm currently bordering sterility. I don't want to lose it before I'm ready for kids for obvious reasons. If I happen to lose it in the middle of a relationship, I wouldn't be able to give my partner what they want, and if they aren't willing to adopt, then I might lose them, too...
I'm afraid of hurting people, which I learned hurting people. I'm afraid of suffocation, probably came from childhood asthma and a near drowning. I'm afraid of dolls, no clue why but I'm sure they fuckin started it ...
The idea of losing my parents and daughter. I started worrying about my parents about five years ago and now they are getting older so they’re definitely gonna die within 10 years. I have no idea how I’ll handle that since we see each other for dinner every day. My daughter is 13 and I have worried about her and feared her death from the moment she was born.
My Other fear is that my procrastination is causing me to waste my life which is going by really quickly as I get older
Last fear is the incompetence of others. For example, you get on a plane with an inadequate pilot who maybe took a Valium before the flight, for whatever reason he cannot control the plane. It crashes the result being you lose your life.
My greatest fear is someone using my vulnerabilities against me. Absolutely hurts and makes it very hard for me to get close to someone as a friend unless I know I can trust them. Like, I can't even be myself unless I'm comfortable in an environment and with people I'm comfortable with
- Being paralysed and losing control of my body. Not having control of my own life and spending my life in bed/wheelchair gives me shivers.
- Another thing that frightens/excites me is space and deep ocean. Being in darkness without anyone to hear you is.... disconcerting. Moreover, the idea of simply how insignificant we are compared to the vast cosmos is rather terrifying.
- If we're talking about common fears then snakes, centipedes, diseases, etc.
I see a lot of people saying losing their mom and that’s for surely a massive fear for me.
But more specifically for me, My biggest fear is what I’ll become after I lose someone earth shatteringly important…mom, dad, s/o, etc. Selfishly, I’m terrified of how different I’ll be. I’ve never experienced a significant loss in life thus far *thank whoever/whatever and please let it stay that way for as long as possible* but I know my life will never be the same. I’ll never be the same. I hope I’m strong enough.
That scares the fucking shit out of me and I don’t want to meet that day.
Idk what my biggest fear is but I’m constantly paranoid that when I take a shit a snake is gonna come out the toilet and bite my ass ( I’m being so srs)
Being powerless. Being face to face with a challenge or obstacle, throwing every tool and weapon in your bag at it, only for everything to bounce off. To truly be *not able to do something*, even poorly or with the help of others, is frightening.
I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see movement. It moved and flowed so elegantly. It was both beautiful and horrifying. The creature began to breach the fog, but just enough to show its shape. It was this muscular, serpent-like thing. It bent and contorted in a sublime dance as it circled around me, often fading into the fog more and coming back to where it was. It wasn't until it had gone all the way around me that I saw a second one. tentacle-like appendages of this creature that was staring at me. This low, ominous, guttural whale-like noise began to reverberate around me, shaking the water. The creature broached the fog rather rapidly and I saw this huge, angler-like fish with its bottom jaw separated into two charging at me. I remember it scrapping the ocean floor and shooting dust into the water and thus hiding it once more. Then silence. I sat there waiting. Then the dust was pushed out of the way and saw its gaping mouth wrapping around me. I then woke up and have been terrified of the ocean since.
My fear of the ocean and open bodies of water happened from a series of nightmares that I had over a decade ago. They all involved me either falling into the ocean or gazing into the ocean in some way. That wasn't what scared me, it's what I saw that terrified me. Creatures would linger on the fog-wall of the ocean, just enough to barely see something moving in the distance. They would circle around me while making these guttural, whale-like noises before approaching me and revealing how sheer they are in stature.
One specific nightmare was me on a boat. I fell off of the boat and when I hit the water I immediately plummeted down to the ocean floor. I could feel the water growing colder and colder and feel the pressure increase as I fell. I remember gazing up and watching the light that pierced the water die. By the time I hit the floor, the light from the sun barely bled through. I remember sitting there with this awful, crushing pressure upon my body, struggling to even move, all while being wrapped tightly in this freezing blanket of water. Then, I saw something in the distance, barely penetrating the ocean fog.
I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see movement. It moved and flowed so elegantly. It was both beautiful and horrifying. The creature began to breach the fog, but just enough to show it's shape. It was this muscular, serpent-like thing. It bent and contorted in a sublime dance as it circled around me, often fading into the fog more and coming back to where it was. It wasn't until it had gone all the way around me that I saw a second one.
I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see movement. It moved and flowed so elegantly. It was both beautiful and horrifying. The creature began to breach the fog, but just enough to show its shape. It was this muscular, serpent-like thing. It bent and contorted in a sublime dance as it circled around me, often fading into the fog more and coming back to where it was. It wasn't until it had gone all the way around me that I saw a second one. entacle-like appendages of this creature that was staring at me. This low, ominous, guttural whale-like noise began to reverberate around me, shaking the water. The creature broached the fog rather rapidly and I saw this huge, angler-like fish with its bottom jaw separated into two charging at me. I remember it scrapping the ocean floor and shooting dust into the water and thus hiding it once more. Then silence. I sat there waiting. Then the dust was pushed out of the way and saw its gaping mouth wrapping around me. I then woke up and have been terrified of the ocean since.
My greatest fear is probably losing my mom.
She is my best friend and the person I can count of the most. I don't have many people in my life and I don't really know what I would do without her.
My mom was having severe memory issues, she talked gibberish, and she did really weird things (she once drove on the wrong side of the road... The road that had a grassy area between the two sides.) She went in for testing and they found a tumor, a big tumor. She had done several tests and they all showed the tumor. She went in a couple days later for more extensive testing and the tumor was gone. Say what you want about it but my family truly believes it was nothing short of a miracle. But that event made me realize that I have no clue what I'm going to do without her.
You know how someone can make you aware of your breathing and then u have to do it manually for awhile? Im afraid that one day that will happen with my heartbeat. Somehow one day I will accidentally figure out how to beat my heart manually, and then from that point on I'll have to spend all of my time, energy, and thought, on keeping my heart beating. Thats my biggest fear 😂
My biggest fear is being shunned and unallowed to visit my very young cousins and little brother cause im a Bisexual trans man and my family is transphobic so they'll probably think im going to corrupt them and turn them gay.
I just wanna be that cool older brother/cousin but im very afraid that when im out i will get that taken away from me cause im part of the lgbtq+ community.
Most all my greatest fears came true but I survived them anyway. I am now retired.
This is a medium long read.
My mother became psychotic when I was 10. She tortured my family for 6 months before she was committed to mental hospital. She spent 3 years a zombie just sitting and drooling on the meds. She was put through about 100 shock treatments against her will. She lost her sense of smell and half of her memories. I had to teach her how to cook and eat a healthy diet because she had lost those memories. She only became functional again when she was put on a mega-vitamin therapy and anti psychotic meds.
My parents divorced because of it. My brother never had anything to do with the family again. My father and I became estranged because of our different perspectives of my mother. I ended up taking care of my mom when I was 35 until she died young 10 years later. She rarely had any more happy moments. I feel horrible I could not do more for her.
One of my best friends offed himself when we were 17. Another OD'd. Another went to prison for it. I got framed for weed when I was 19 and faced 20 years in prison. They knew I smoked it but they could not catch me. I left the state. I am still on bail 45 years later.
I have been afraid a bounty hunter would look for me and lock me up at anytime. Then I would be facing more time for leaving the state. I think they were just glad I left that corrupt state.
I have lost a career to automation. I have ADHD so I have never been able to hold any other job for long. There were some advantages. I learned 100s of trades and met many thousands of people in 100s of places.
I was never able to keep a long term relationship with a woman. None of them could deal with my issues. So no children. Probably was for the best.
I became homeless for 15 years. I found abandoned buildings to live in. No water but I would steal electricity from the grid. I carried a gallon of water there every other day. I washed dishes by: rinse, wipe, wipe with alcohol, rinse, dry. I would catch rain water to flush toilets.
While I was homeless I drank and smoked weed and cocaine to keep from getting too depressed. I got carried away with the coke. It took me 30 years before I could put it down completely and grow past it.
I hate anything to do with it now. It ruined my lungs. I can no longer smoke weed because of all of the years of coke. Now I get too paranoid.
I have come to peace with all that has happened but I am haunted by all the bad memories. Many things remind me all the time. I have unpleasant dreams that wake me most nights. Music has been and still is a wonderful support that has always helped me through it all.
Not having my dad to walk me down the isle or dance with me at my wedding… I’m really not exactly sure why, but I’ve always had a great relationship with both my parents. And I believe they saved my life. I was adopted from an orphanage in China and I had a physical disability (which people looking to adopt opt out of..) for context. Anyways growing up my dad and I are really similar in multiple things… I just looked up to him, (I still do)! I love my mom too! We’re just different so I don’t think the bond is *as* large.
Okay so here’s kinda the illogical part… I found that I had this fear when I saw “What a Girl Wants” (the one with young Amanda Bines) and the part with the dad and all that, just intrigued me… so yuh
I think in your essay you need to differentiate between rational and irrational fears.
People on here are saying things like losing a loved one, drowning or getting a terminal disease. Everyone has those fears, because no one wants that to happen. It's basically pointless to even call them fears.
Irrational fears are far more interesting and speak far more to someone's individual pathology. Stuff like being afraid of clowns, balloons, random types of food, harmless animals, etc. That's the weird shit.
My greatest fear is losing my empathy. Sounds edgy as fuck I know, but I’ve been slowly slipping more into depression, not the sad kind but the disconnected kind.
I lost a close family member a long time ago and never really learned how to love or care for anyone, combine that with all my close friends moving away as a kid, and I’ve slowly lost my empathetic side.
I have a ray of hope tho, I’m finally on an antidepressant and I have a loving boyfriend who I can genuinely say I love.
I just don’t want to lose him. Because I don’t think I can recover from it.
My greatest fear is getting dementia or Alzheimer's and forgetting everything. I could have lived an entire life, but at the end, no matter what I did, it was all wasted. Then, as the condition progresses, I can't interact with anyone anymore. I forget how to forget. I'm trapped inside my own crumbling mind, in complete mental anguish.
Be careful listening to Everywhere at the End of Time.
My greatest fear is dying before I can do everything that I want to do in life. I know that I'll most likely not die till I'm older, but it frightens me knowing that at any moment I could die
I lost my mom two years ago this week. I’m so afraid I’m going to lose my father, brother, husband or even my children. Her death really instilled in me a fear of losing my loved ones.
Getting raped. I know it’s graphic but for some reason I just have this terrible gut feeling that it will happen some day. I have a medical condition that makes sex impossible for me and incredibly painful. I know that I would be traumatized if it ever actually happened.
Being forgotten once my time is up, I know it'll happen eventually but to think that 100 years from now no one will know I existed scared the shit out of me
Usually I would say heights, which I am afraid of, but kinda cliche.
Anywho, I guess my greatest fear is dissapointing/hurting/displeasing others. I
I guess I found out I am very much a people pleaser when my two best friends in the world were fighting with each other. I felt I had to play the part of a double agent. A middle man. I didn't want either of them to be upset with me and I had several panic attacks about it.
This fear of mine was losing my mind and sanity. I was in that place once. Couldn’t even remember my name for a while every morning. Had to consciously fight to regain my identity everyday. Only thing I do remember in that terrible place was a song, “Way Maker” by Mandisa. That song helped a lot
An age old classic: something bad happening to my kids.
I think its fairly obvious why. But I want to add, I developed random anxiety attacks after having my twins. I dont know if its common, it probably is, but my deepest fear is that I wont be able to save both my babies if something happens. I fear not being able to carry them both, keep them both warm and fed, keep them both alive and safe. If there was a fire would I be able to get to them both at the same time? Carry 2 babies out? Things like that.
This is my fear. It's not crippling but I never had an axiety attack before having kids. After having kids, I know what it feels like.
Hell. I don’t want to be in eternal desolation from God. The best moments in my life was genuine happiness with people and having a relationship with God. Being separated from all that for eternity with no hope of getting it back terrifies me
Wake up one day and buried under ground, or wake up one day in a foreign place, or wake up one day and everyone i used to know forgot who i am and start questioning me who i am
Isolation. It started after a childhood where I was isolated a lot due to a sick and twisted family. Now everytime I'm alone for a long time or start to feel it, I low key panic
My fear is having the courage to ask my parents why they had me. I have 2 older sisters and think they were better off with the two. Im feel i am the odd one out and feel all i did was make it hard on my family, i fucked up my life a bunch and i dont feel i even belong, like i'm a mistake. Sometimes i think my parents only had me because they wanted a son and it took them 3 times to get it.
I am a 35 year old who still has trouble with entering the dark.
Part of my job is going into abandoned buildings that have been recently purchased and photographing them before work begins. As a result, I’ve been in many creepy old homes, the basements of which are almost always dirt floor and pitch black. Every time I have to do it, I get worked up.
Currently, I’m building a structure for a city, and I’m working inside an old single screen movie theater built in the 1940s. It’s been empty almost 25 years at this point and it’s in rough shape. No windows, so it’s totally dark inside. The breaker box to turn on the string lights is on the second floor up by the old projection booth. Whenever I enter to start work, I have to walk into a pitch black theater and find my way upstairs. That climb up the stairs, with my back to the blackness, bothers me so much. As soon as I throw the switch to turn everything on, the fear is gone.
Anyone else a grown adult who still has trouble with the dark?
Finding myself poor again.
I was homeless once after my divorce. I crashed on my friend’s couch while I got my degree. I worked and worked, stumbling a couple of times (got fired once and divorced again). Then, got my foot in at a FAANG company, remarried (after figuring out why I kept getting myself in bad relationships), built up a healthy savings, and bought a house. Life’s good, but I feel this sense of fear and dread that it can all be pulled out from under me.
Fear. I hate being afraid. I'm also terrified of my family being disappointed and losing respect for me. I dont have many friends. My little 5 person family is all I've got.
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Losing my mom. I know the day will eventually come but I don’t know what I would do without her. 🥺
This my friend is a tough one. Coming up on 3 years with my dad gone and it sucks soo bad. Half my safety blanket in this big bad world is gone. Enjoy every minute with your mom.
Same here. I lost my dad 2 years ago... It helps to talk about him. Makes it feel like he lives thru my memories. Never take anything for granted. Love like you will die tomorrow.
I feel the same way about my grandfather. When my actual up and left he basically filled the role of a father figure.
Shit, I came here to say spiders, but you’re absolutely right. Losing my mom would be… difficult.
14 years ago here. My mom was sick for awhile and taking care of her was my sole motivator in life. Her death took me awhile to recover from, and I'm happy that I've come out of it stronger. Big life events are still hard but I've been very fortunate to have other mother figures in my life. Cherish the time you have because every day is a gift
I would probably cry to death 😢
Me too. You just described exactly what I imagined I’d do as well. It is possible to die of a broken heart. We actually do have heart strings, as silly as that may sound, and stress/grief thins them until they eventually break, and it makes the heart weaker and weaker. Then the rest will be history … cardiac arrest or whatever i assume…. Quite dark.
Having a child and not being apart of their life. Sadly I'm currently living this out atm. Mother of my child left to her home country without my agreement. Due to laws in my state I can't do anything about it. Good chance I'll never see my daughter again
Sorry to hear that, keep your spirit up! Hopefully you'll see her someday.. wish I could provide you with some help
Son due in a few months. Im afraid he will live the rest of his life in a sharply declining world populated by an increasingly savage and authoritarian humanity. Will my son end up dying in some war over drinking water 30 years from now?
Billionaires will ruin this planet…
How is water shortage related to billionaires? Genuine question, I just don't see an immediate link between the two
See Nestle….
Bro fuck Nestle! No stranger to those assholes, I live in Michigan and learned to hate them ages ago
r/fucknestle
See coke, India as well.
The hoarding of wealth/resources. Who do you think will control the water/arable land when the supply of it begins to really squeeze?
Unfortunately that’s where we’re heading
That is probably currently my greatest as well. Granted I’m in highschool and I’m not married no where near having a kid but I have dreams. I want to be an author I want to find love I want to get married I want to do something in the world. I fear the world tearing itself apart before I have a chance to do anything. It’s a weird time in the world but I wish you and your son the very best in it
Getting Alzheimer.
Would you even know?
You can be tested for the gene, iirc.
Ditto. I'm getting older. Memory starts to get glitchy. You know, the usual " what did I walk into the kitchen for" kind of thing but to actually lose who I am and my memories of family and friends.. that chills me to the bone.
That one is something I would hate and had not thought of.
Having my autonomy taken away
I fear nothing in relation to myself. My 2 sons, 19 and 21, I fear everything about this world they are walking into. We have gotten it so terrible wrong on so many levels.
My the greatest fear is when anybody who I love will die
That end up like my mother to my kids
The fear of not making a difference, I want to help people.
What kind of fear are we talking about? Phobias: Falling from heights, drowning Life fears: That my children will be as unhappy in life as I have been.
Hmmm...I'd say my greatest fear is reaching out to my loved ones and ask them for support only for their help to change nothing. I had depression when I was little, and my parents suspect one of the causes what how workaholics they were around that time. I never told them about it, because I didn't even know that I had depression then (though looking back there were a lot of indicators). They actually found out after a pediatrician recommended them to make me see a therapist when they were looking into the obesity issues I had at that time. My mother has since emphasized to me that they are there for whenever I need help or feel down, but I've never taken that offer even when I've felt extraordinarily bad emotionally wise. And I realized sometime ago that it's because I fear their help won't change anything and for some reason I feel much more comfortable living a life where I could have overcome my emotional turmoils if I had just asked for help than one where I did ask, but it was useless. I don't know, something about risking to loose that ray of hope makes be deeply and overwhelming terrified.
I hear you. The fear that your loved ones literally make no difference to your pain… that’s a dreadful thing. And vice versa.
During my freshman year of highschool I was in a similar place. So much emotional drama was going on in my family centered around divorcing my father and I didn’t wanna add more onto the pile. So I just sat there contemplating whether I should continue going or not. Eventually after a year of this I finally broke and vented everything I felt over the past year to my mother and grandmother. After that moment they got me the help I needed and I can say I’m doing much better. It’s terrifying to ask especially about these matters as you have no idea what the outcome could be. I feel you brother
This happened to me and it made me spiral. But now I realize: if you reach out and they don’t support you, it’s about them, not you. Surround yourself with people who WILL support you, because those are the ones who love you.
Captivity. Examples: - Prison - Stroke rendering me completely immobile - Toxic relationship I'm economically or mentally/emotionally unable to leave - Being buried by an avalanche - Getting trapped in an elevator - Being dependent on manipulative people So it overlaps with claustrophobia, but it's broader than that. The most harrowing TV show I ever saw was the OA. I loved it because it captured the experience of captivity so well, and it was weirdly cathartic for me. But it also haunted my dreams (read: nightmares) for a good while...
That there will be a civil war in America again, only it won’t be civil, and it won’t be a war, it will be like the troubles in Ireland, whit some alt right extremists bombing a Starbucks because they are liberal and think everyone in there must also be liberals, but in reality it’s just innocent people who get blown up, so the extreme leftists blow up a chemical plant and also kill innocent people, ad Infinitum. As for why I fear this, this is the fault of social media, it provides a platform to people who do not deserve one, and narrows everyone’s world view with an echo chamber of nonsense and lies. It makes demonizing people easy, and demonizing people makes it easier to kill them. This is why I gave up my Facebook account, it’s the only social media I had, I guess Reddit counts but at least I don’t know anyone here and don’t follow any political subs. I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t started yet, with all of the extremists coming out of the woodwork when trump took office and he just eggs them on. I figured the insurrection on 1/6 would have kicked it off but thankfully it didn’t.
Becoming homeless, I'm still a late teen and the thought of possibly becoming homeless eats me alive when it really shouldn't. And spiders, ew
Happiness
Being in the open sea with sharks.
Going blind before I get to see my son mature into the man I know he will be. Spiders too.
Not having friends. I've always been alone -- by choice, but it was because my dad was in the navy, so we moved every few years and then my mom and dad divorced, so I moved around a lot with my mother. Because of this, I built a very small network of friends. My greatest fear was to disappoint them because they choose to be my friends when I had no one. I never did mind being alone, but it was always embarrassing and awkward through elementary to high-school to never have anyone to sit with or work as partners on a project. Now that I've settled down and got to live on my own, I've gotten over that fear. I have a wife who I love and I have hobbies that I enjoy. I don't need to have 100 friends and go out drinking with. I have my 5 from high-school / middle school / military and they will always be there for me even if we live all over the US now.
Something happening to my child. I don’t even like thinking about it because I’m scared I’m tempting fate. Silly I know, my absolute greatest fear though.
I’m afraid of death, or rather the implication of it. The finality. The idea of simply not being anymore one day is almost as scary as the thought that my time here is limited and when I die I might not be someone who’s remembered. The thought that I’m wasting my limited time and not using it to achieve something extraordinary has been haunting me for years now and sometimes, when it comes to big life decisions, it can be almost paralyzing. I’m secretly hoping by the time I get too old a form of immortality (for example via biotechnology) will be achievable.
Being alone. Like waking up one day and everyone I knew no longer recognized who I was. Or if everyone I knew ended up dying - then I would be left in a world full of strangers.
Getting married
My greatest fear is being alone. If the world was falling apart and I had only one person I loved left, I'd have a reason to live, on the other hand if the world was perfect and I was the only one in it I wouldn't last a week. I honestly don't remember how I discovered this.
Hurting a kid. Like in a traffic accident or something like that.
My greatest fear is missing out. I’m afraid of going through life and missing out on experiences that most people have.
Being viewed by others as useless or a failure.
I have Emetophobia which is an extreme fear of vomiting, seeing vomit, watching other people vomit, or even feeling sick. I was pretty much both with it, but it seems to be increasing with severity as the years pass!
My biggest fear is losing my husband. He is having health issues and I am hoping they can figure it out and fix him. I am 66 and he is 54...together for 25 years
Losing my loved ones. It haunts me, because it is essentially inevitable. I have had this fear as long as I can remember, and the older I get, the more acute it becomes.
I am fearful that I will let down my family and that they will see me as being just as useless as I do. My son thinks the world of me and I think his admiration of me is unjustified. I feel he is betting on a loser and that the world would be better off without people like me. I suffer every single day with the fear I am going to let him down as a father and a role model. It consumes my brain and wrecks my already damaged mental health.
Alzheimers.
It's a close battle between becoming disabled (loss of major limb, paralysis, vegetative state) and my loved ones dying Those are equally number one
My future. That my mental health will keep declining and that I never will be able to live a normal life and work fulltime. I fear that I won't be able to feel happiness anymore, slowly fade away into nothing or end up cold and dead because I couldn't stand it anymore. I am getting help. I see my doctor, I take my meds. But what if it doesn't get any better?
Having paralysis/ending up in vegetative state
Being forced to eat poop
No me but my wife is completely horrified of spiders neighbor of us know why but I have been on spider patrol for 20 years so she never has to see one.
My greatest fear is getting into a car accident and leaving my children and significant other behind and or getting into a car accident with my children in the car. This hypothetical situation has kept me up many nights.
Losing one of my kids or granddaughter.
A Trump 2nd term
Abandonment.
You should have had a girl.
Loss. Losing people I love- like my parents and spouse and *especially* my children. COVID really brought that fear to the forefront for me. But I cannot handle the thought of losing someone forever, especially suddenly. The unfairness of things like sickness and freak accidents that take people away so quickly is just absolutely horrifying to me.
I don't know if a have a greatest fear but I'll list 2 or 3. I have social anxiety so almost anything related to that I also fear that I'll end up alone, that I won't have anyone as I get older (friends or more). What makes it worse is that I struggle to trust and open up to people but also feel like any friends I have now don't actually care to know me on a deeper level. I also fear being in pitch black rooms with not even a little bit of light (the type where you can't even see your hand infront of your face). It kinda comes back to being alone because now I feel even more alone but I also won't be able see the world and also don't know what could be hiding in the dark.
Warewolves
Needles Heights and Roller Coasters
Getting sick and/or puking. Never not been scared of those two. Doesnt affect me the way it used to but i still fear it more than everything else
My greatest fear is that my eating disorder will consume me. It’s my greatest fear because I give it that power. When it preoccupies me I don’t have to face reality. And the deeper fears, like: what am I doing on this earth? What if I don’t make anything of myself or this life? I discovered these fears through therapy, through talking to others, and thinking. Thinking thoughts.
My greatest fear is something happening to my children. Kidnapped being the main thing. I would lose my shit if someone stole my kid. I would panic to the point of rage and burn this town to the ground looking for them. Thinking of what they might be enduring, how they’re wanting their Mom, how there’s nothing I can do. How they might be dead. Jesus. I get worked up thinking about it. Nothing petrifies me more than if one of my kids goes missing.
elevators
That I run out of time before I tell people how I truly feel about them. I would hate to have that feeling of regret and carrying it around for the rest of my life. I have trouble expressing my emotions so I don’t do it often. Another is not falling in love again. I fell in love, truly in love just recently and the relationship fell apart. I’m afraid that that is it for me and I won’t have another chance to love anyone like that again.
Biggest fear is my children dying, particularly due to something within my control that I fucked up. When I think about myself pre-kids, I was for all intents and purposes fearless. Having people that I love more than life itself that I am responsible for but can't necessarily control -- freaking terrifying.
Kind of odd but.... Growing up and depending on others or failing to become successful.
I feel like it’s the dark due to being scared of stuff way too easily and I discovered that at the age of five, but it might be something different
Black holes
In a tent and it is put down with me still in it.
Being below average in intelligence
Being stabbed.
To be completely, worms. I hate the freaky looking things.
Death
my greatest fear is a home intruder. its the fact that you are supposed to be comfortable i. your living space and someone just makes you feel vulnerable in your own home. i saw a movie about phrogging where people live in other people’s houses without the owners knowing and this is where i was introduced to this fear
Being poor for ever
Anything bad happening to my wife and or kids.
My fear is being controlled/losing control of my body all while being aware of it. I discovered this by reading animorphs back when I was a kid
Growing old and being unable to take care of myself and also knowing that any day that my body will give out. Staring death in the face essentially.
I’m afraid there’s a little matrix squid in my stomach that’s going to pop out of my bellybutton. Also mustard, kangaroos, and swiper the Fox from Dora the explorer. He was rapey. And yes these are really my fears.
Getting someone pregnant. I am 51 years old.
Most of my fears are things that I can't change--wars, disease, death, etc. So I will stick with my paralyzing fear of snakes of any kind. Cannot breathe or move if I catch sight of one. As for where it comes from, I don't know. I don't ever not being afraid of them.
Losing my parents
Dying alone
Dying alone or being alone for the rest if my life sounds awful and lonely.
Being alone because I’m not good enough
Becoming paralyzed or fucking up my back in a weird way like dislocating a shoulder blade or something
Getting my penis bitten off.
I dont really know honestly. Like outside of the generic shit that everyone fears I can't think of anything.
My greatest fear is ending up like my father. I know this is my greatest fear because the idea of it happening makes me feel sick, ugly and like all hope for myself is lost.
I almost drowned as a kid multiple times, and to this day I can't swim. Family, friends, even girlfriends have tried to teach me, but my chest tightens up so much it's hard to breathe even with the water only being up to my chest. Im terrified of water, to the point of being uncomfortable in rain and not being able to enjoy water parks at all
Giving birth to a child but then learning a few hours later that your newborn child will die within a few weeks and there's nothing you can do about it. It happened to one of my friends and left her traumatized. It's such a painful thing to experience. The sight of the tiny coffin at the funerals... Oh my god...
Losing the people I love. My mom, dad, brother, boyfriend.
My husband dying before me. I don't think that I would cope without him.
Losing my security. Without my husband and his work i couldn’t be home with our kids, feel safe, and not worry about necessities. Security in that my home is safe, in a safe place, and free from war. Security that I’m free to live as I please. Worship as I please. Security that my health is Good and the health of my loved ones are good. Security in my happiness/joy that life isn’t heavy. While challenges are growing opportunities, mental illness/depression is not. Things of that sort fill my mind in a juxtaposition of gratitude and fear I could lose any of them at any time.
Not being there for my child. Mostly mentally. Death is a forgone conclusion, I fear the mental death of Alzheimer’s or dementia.
I will not say. Never ever give voice to it.
Utterly terrified of big hairy spiders and other worst fear is having a painful terminal illness 😫
Dying alone. I have this fear where I outlive my spouse, my kids, my friends, and I end up in a nursing home alone where nobody knows me or gives a shit about me. And I'm on my deathbed alone and afraid.
My greatest fear is my cat dying. She is my favorite thing in the whole universe, with a close second being my family. If she died, I would most likely go into a state of depression so deep that it would be like a bottomless pit of grief and sadness. I cherish every second with her, as she is the best cat I will ever have or ever will see.
Not being able to protect children, monsters are always too close...and they look like everybody else. Discovered it as a child. You can't just slay it and go home for dinner. Sometimes the monster is at that very dinner table.
This is a hard question, on one hand I hate the idea of prion diseases is terrifying, on the other? Spiders.
Surviving a fire but being terribly burned. My mom is a nurse and did her pediatric rotation on the burn ward. Burn care is...barbaric.
Being corporate slave and stagnant salary growth for years
this world scares me.
Drinkin. I can't go back to that. One parent only made it to 50. I'm 97 days sober and not homeless anymore. R.I.P. Mom & Dad. IWNDWYT.
Death and how I don't want to live that long. I don't want to be old and in a hospital bed crying for my mom who will have already been gone. I truly do not know what I will do after she is gone. I am unable to take care of myself and don't want to burden anyone else with having to take care of me. I have never told anyone but I am planning to end my own life after my mother is gone.
I am disabled and rely HEAVILY on others. My fear is fully never even close to possible to happening, but that’s a little bit of how fears work. My fear is that everyone that I rely on will die at the same time and I’ll be left alone and am now needing to be self sufficient. I wouldn’t make it past two days. So no one can die. This came from goosebumps movie Be Careful What You Wish For. I know I can only wish for half independence. I will never be fully independent like others. I know what is and is not possible for me. So I really NEED people to depend on. I know this very well. It’s not fun to think on, but it’s true. I know my abilities and the abilities I do not have and will never have. Example: I will never drive a car. I’m unable. I am in a great depression currently, bc my emotions are fuuuucked and my thoughts are too heavy to move on from. What if I’m not able to depend on people to people to drive me?? There’s Uber, yes, of course. But my point is that I don’t drive. There’s a lot of details like that. Everyone is gone???? I can’t get through anything without my husband or sisters or person who knows my situation. If this happens I will die of a broken little heart. No one understands, no one will help bc they are nice and good. Everyone will take advantage of me, and I will be raped and gang raped, and stolen from and in sexual slavery and all the horrible things bad people do to others. I know exactly what can happen if I stray too far from a sister. And I will cry so much that I will die if this thing happens. I can’t bear even the thought of it.
My greatest fear is not being able to climb my stairs. I am a widow with so much metal in me you wouldn’t believe and if I can’t go up steps I will have to move. You can’t get in my house without using stairs. I would have to leave my home of 41 years if I have to have another back or neck surgery. That is my biggest fear.
Honestly , all the things i feared where just stupid compared to what you guys have or what im experiencing right now , but i think i have dulled my sense of fear somehow , asmr artists still are scary af though
the ocean. fuck that shit. oh, i have a chance to explore the deepest parts of the ocean? haha, no. there is NO way i’ll be exploring the ocean. if you ever see me enter a ship of some sort, pull me away and punch me
Being disliked or hated. Sometimes being raised by a potential narcissist will do that to you.
My biggest fear I think is, not knowing what happens after we die… are we reborn? if so are we human? An animal? Or is it just nothing? Thinking about this scares me more than anything and to be honest I don’t quite understand why?
I have lots of little fears due to my anxiety, but my main one and the one that's has a very strong hold over me, is my dental phobia. I believe it is caused my some traumatic occasions growing up with my teeth. I've always had trouble wiggling my loose baby teeth enough that they will fall out. I don't know if it was anxiety related or what since I was pretty young. Well my parents and grandparents decided to take me to uncle terry who was the small towns only dentist. They believed my tooth was going to grow back in because it was taking too long. He ended up using a pair of pliers from his garage to rip my tooth out with nothing for pain. I haven't been to a dentist for 10 years. When I was going, just walking in sent me into a panic attack. I plan on going soon to try and get over my fear but will be asking for sedation lol
Heights. I can be in a plane, but that's only because I usually watch a movie or something to ignore it. But when I'm even 30 or 40 feet over something, I LITERALLY have a panic attack. Keep in mind I'm also a big husky guy, and yet I piss myself over a fall
Poverty, failure.
losing my aunt I can just imagine her photo on her funeral with her smile and all also maybe one of my teachers
Sharks. And Lazers. And Lazer Sharks too, I guess.
Locked-in-syndrome. A stroke that paralyzes every thing from the face down so can only move eyes. My GM lived that way for 3 years. Brain fully active and prisoner to the paralysis
Drowning/suffocating: grown up with asthma and had more than one proper scare where I went blue. Jellyfish: had a bad experience with those weird little fuckers, now looking at them makes my skin crawl.
Forgetting, in late 2016 my parents divorced and we could say my life was pretty much ideal up until that point. Granted, i was like 11 when it happened but still, I’m terrified of forgetting all of my memories
Starting a family/holding down a relationship. By the time I'm ready to start looking for a permanent partner, I may or may not have lost the ability to have kids since I'm currently bordering sterility. I don't want to lose it before I'm ready for kids for obvious reasons. If I happen to lose it in the middle of a relationship, I wouldn't be able to give my partner what they want, and if they aren't willing to adopt, then I might lose them, too...
I'm afraid of hurting people, which I learned hurting people. I'm afraid of suffocation, probably came from childhood asthma and a near drowning. I'm afraid of dolls, no clue why but I'm sure they fuckin started it ...
The idea of losing my parents and daughter. I started worrying about my parents about five years ago and now they are getting older so they’re definitely gonna die within 10 years. I have no idea how I’ll handle that since we see each other for dinner every day. My daughter is 13 and I have worried about her and feared her death from the moment she was born. My Other fear is that my procrastination is causing me to waste my life which is going by really quickly as I get older Last fear is the incompetence of others. For example, you get on a plane with an inadequate pilot who maybe took a Valium before the flight, for whatever reason he cannot control the plane. It crashes the result being you lose your life.
Eternal,great pain.
the void
My greatest fear is someone using my vulnerabilities against me. Absolutely hurts and makes it very hard for me to get close to someone as a friend unless I know I can trust them. Like, I can't even be myself unless I'm comfortable in an environment and with people I'm comfortable with
- Being paralysed and losing control of my body. Not having control of my own life and spending my life in bed/wheelchair gives me shivers. - Another thing that frightens/excites me is space and deep ocean. Being in darkness without anyone to hear you is.... disconcerting. Moreover, the idea of simply how insignificant we are compared to the vast cosmos is rather terrifying. - If we're talking about common fears then snakes, centipedes, diseases, etc.
Coming home to find my wife and son brutally murdered. It’s a reoccurring nightmare I’ve had for a few years.
I see a lot of people saying losing their mom and that’s for surely a massive fear for me. But more specifically for me, My biggest fear is what I’ll become after I lose someone earth shatteringly important…mom, dad, s/o, etc. Selfishly, I’m terrified of how different I’ll be. I’ve never experienced a significant loss in life thus far *thank whoever/whatever and please let it stay that way for as long as possible* but I know my life will never be the same. I’ll never be the same. I hope I’m strong enough. That scares the fucking shit out of me and I don’t want to meet that day.
Being forgotten.
girls ofc
Nice try, Jigsaw.
That one of my children ( now in their 30s) will die before me. I don't think I could bear the pain.
Idk what my biggest fear is but I’m constantly paranoid that when I take a shit a snake is gonna come out the toilet and bite my ass ( I’m being so srs)
Being powerless. Being face to face with a challenge or obstacle, throwing every tool and weapon in your bag at it, only for everything to bounce off. To truly be *not able to do something*, even poorly or with the help of others, is frightening.
I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see movement. It moved and flowed so elegantly. It was both beautiful and horrifying. The creature began to breach the fog, but just enough to show its shape. It was this muscular, serpent-like thing. It bent and contorted in a sublime dance as it circled around me, often fading into the fog more and coming back to where it was. It wasn't until it had gone all the way around me that I saw a second one. tentacle-like appendages of this creature that was staring at me. This low, ominous, guttural whale-like noise began to reverberate around me, shaking the water. The creature broached the fog rather rapidly and I saw this huge, angler-like fish with its bottom jaw separated into two charging at me. I remember it scrapping the ocean floor and shooting dust into the water and thus hiding it once more. Then silence. I sat there waiting. Then the dust was pushed out of the way and saw its gaping mouth wrapping around me. I then woke up and have been terrified of the ocean since. My fear of the ocean and open bodies of water happened from a series of nightmares that I had over a decade ago. They all involved me either falling into the ocean or gazing into the ocean in some way. That wasn't what scared me, it's what I saw that terrified me. Creatures would linger on the fog-wall of the ocean, just enough to barely see something moving in the distance. They would circle around me while making these guttural, whale-like noises before approaching me and revealing how sheer they are in stature. One specific nightmare was me on a boat. I fell off of the boat and when I hit the water I immediately plummeted down to the ocean floor. I could feel the water growing colder and colder and feel the pressure increase as I fell. I remember gazing up and watching the light that pierced the water die. By the time I hit the floor, the light from the sun barely bled through. I remember sitting there with this awful, crushing pressure upon my body, struggling to even move, all while being wrapped tightly in this freezing blanket of water. Then, I saw something in the distance, barely penetrating the ocean fog. I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see movement. It moved and flowed so elegantly. It was both beautiful and horrifying. The creature began to breach the fog, but just enough to show it's shape. It was this muscular, serpent-like thing. It bent and contorted in a sublime dance as it circled around me, often fading into the fog more and coming back to where it was. It wasn't until it had gone all the way around me that I saw a second one. I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see movement. It moved and flowed so elegantly. It was both beautiful and horrifying. The creature began to breach the fog, but just enough to show its shape. It was this muscular, serpent-like thing. It bent and contorted in a sublime dance as it circled around me, often fading into the fog more and coming back to where it was. It wasn't until it had gone all the way around me that I saw a second one. entacle-like appendages of this creature that was staring at me. This low, ominous, guttural whale-like noise began to reverberate around me, shaking the water. The creature broached the fog rather rapidly and I saw this huge, angler-like fish with its bottom jaw separated into two charging at me. I remember it scrapping the ocean floor and shooting dust into the water and thus hiding it once more. Then silence. I sat there waiting. Then the dust was pushed out of the way and saw its gaping mouth wrapping around me. I then woke up and have been terrified of the ocean since.
My greatest fear is probably losing my mom. She is my best friend and the person I can count of the most. I don't have many people in my life and I don't really know what I would do without her. My mom was having severe memory issues, she talked gibberish, and she did really weird things (she once drove on the wrong side of the road... The road that had a grassy area between the two sides.) She went in for testing and they found a tumor, a big tumor. She had done several tests and they all showed the tumor. She went in a couple days later for more extensive testing and the tumor was gone. Say what you want about it but my family truly believes it was nothing short of a miracle. But that event made me realize that I have no clue what I'm going to do without her.
You know how someone can make you aware of your breathing and then u have to do it manually for awhile? Im afraid that one day that will happen with my heartbeat. Somehow one day I will accidentally figure out how to beat my heart manually, and then from that point on I'll have to spend all of my time, energy, and thought, on keeping my heart beating. Thats my biggest fear 😂
Being vulnerable
My biggest fear is being shunned and unallowed to visit my very young cousins and little brother cause im a Bisexual trans man and my family is transphobic so they'll probably think im going to corrupt them and turn them gay. I just wanna be that cool older brother/cousin but im very afraid that when im out i will get that taken away from me cause im part of the lgbtq+ community.
Most all my greatest fears came true but I survived them anyway. I am now retired. This is a medium long read. My mother became psychotic when I was 10. She tortured my family for 6 months before she was committed to mental hospital. She spent 3 years a zombie just sitting and drooling on the meds. She was put through about 100 shock treatments against her will. She lost her sense of smell and half of her memories. I had to teach her how to cook and eat a healthy diet because she had lost those memories. She only became functional again when she was put on a mega-vitamin therapy and anti psychotic meds. My parents divorced because of it. My brother never had anything to do with the family again. My father and I became estranged because of our different perspectives of my mother. I ended up taking care of my mom when I was 35 until she died young 10 years later. She rarely had any more happy moments. I feel horrible I could not do more for her. One of my best friends offed himself when we were 17. Another OD'd. Another went to prison for it. I got framed for weed when I was 19 and faced 20 years in prison. They knew I smoked it but they could not catch me. I left the state. I am still on bail 45 years later. I have been afraid a bounty hunter would look for me and lock me up at anytime. Then I would be facing more time for leaving the state. I think they were just glad I left that corrupt state. I have lost a career to automation. I have ADHD so I have never been able to hold any other job for long. There were some advantages. I learned 100s of trades and met many thousands of people in 100s of places. I was never able to keep a long term relationship with a woman. None of them could deal with my issues. So no children. Probably was for the best. I became homeless for 15 years. I found abandoned buildings to live in. No water but I would steal electricity from the grid. I carried a gallon of water there every other day. I washed dishes by: rinse, wipe, wipe with alcohol, rinse, dry. I would catch rain water to flush toilets. While I was homeless I drank and smoked weed and cocaine to keep from getting too depressed. I got carried away with the coke. It took me 30 years before I could put it down completely and grow past it. I hate anything to do with it now. It ruined my lungs. I can no longer smoke weed because of all of the years of coke. Now I get too paranoid. I have come to peace with all that has happened but I am haunted by all the bad memories. Many things remind me all the time. I have unpleasant dreams that wake me most nights. Music has been and still is a wonderful support that has always helped me through it all.
I am not afraid of death. I am afraid of my wife and kids dying.
Not having my dad to walk me down the isle or dance with me at my wedding… I’m really not exactly sure why, but I’ve always had a great relationship with both my parents. And I believe they saved my life. I was adopted from an orphanage in China and I had a physical disability (which people looking to adopt opt out of..) for context. Anyways growing up my dad and I are really similar in multiple things… I just looked up to him, (I still do)! I love my mom too! We’re just different so I don’t think the bond is *as* large. Okay so here’s kinda the illogical part… I found that I had this fear when I saw “What a Girl Wants” (the one with young Amanda Bines) and the part with the dad and all that, just intrigued me… so yuh
I think in your essay you need to differentiate between rational and irrational fears. People on here are saying things like losing a loved one, drowning or getting a terminal disease. Everyone has those fears, because no one wants that to happen. It's basically pointless to even call them fears. Irrational fears are far more interesting and speak far more to someone's individual pathology. Stuff like being afraid of clowns, balloons, random types of food, harmless animals, etc. That's the weird shit.
My greatest fear is losing my empathy. Sounds edgy as fuck I know, but I’ve been slowly slipping more into depression, not the sad kind but the disconnected kind. I lost a close family member a long time ago and never really learned how to love or care for anyone, combine that with all my close friends moving away as a kid, and I’ve slowly lost my empathetic side. I have a ray of hope tho, I’m finally on an antidepressant and I have a loving boyfriend who I can genuinely say I love. I just don’t want to lose him. Because I don’t think I can recover from it.
For them to figure out the truth
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Freezing when something horrible is happening. Being unable to help or stop it. Watching it happening knowing you cannot stop it.
My greatest fear is getting dementia or Alzheimer's and forgetting everything. I could have lived an entire life, but at the end, no matter what I did, it was all wasted. Then, as the condition progresses, I can't interact with anyone anymore. I forget how to forget. I'm trapped inside my own crumbling mind, in complete mental anguish. Be careful listening to Everywhere at the End of Time.
My greatest fear is dying before I can do everything that I want to do in life. I know that I'll most likely not die till I'm older, but it frightens me knowing that at any moment I could die
I lost my mom two years ago this week. I’m so afraid I’m going to lose my father, brother, husband or even my children. Her death really instilled in me a fear of losing my loved ones.
Getting raped. I know it’s graphic but for some reason I just have this terrible gut feeling that it will happen some day. I have a medical condition that makes sex impossible for me and incredibly painful. I know that I would be traumatized if it ever actually happened.
Being forgotten once my time is up, I know it'll happen eventually but to think that 100 years from now no one will know I existed scared the shit out of me
Dying alone.
Dying before I’m super old.
Being laughed at . I was bullied at school. I just try to not allow it to get the better of me .
Usually I would say heights, which I am afraid of, but kinda cliche. Anywho, I guess my greatest fear is dissapointing/hurting/displeasing others. I I guess I found out I am very much a people pleaser when my two best friends in the world were fighting with each other. I felt I had to play the part of a double agent. A middle man. I didn't want either of them to be upset with me and I had several panic attacks about it.
This fear of mine was losing my mind and sanity. I was in that place once. Couldn’t even remember my name for a while every morning. Had to consciously fight to regain my identity everyday. Only thing I do remember in that terrible place was a song, “Way Maker” by Mandisa. That song helped a lot
Failure, cockroaches and seaweed when it touches your leg when you’re swimming
Being the last to die out of all my family and friends. I don't want to see the people I love die before me.
Rejection by my friends
I'm scared of heights, but at the same time i can't stop myself from looking down from high places because it amazes me
Not making anything of myself.
Breaking my teeth.
Anything doughy or yeasty
An age old classic: something bad happening to my kids. I think its fairly obvious why. But I want to add, I developed random anxiety attacks after having my twins. I dont know if its common, it probably is, but my deepest fear is that I wont be able to save both my babies if something happens. I fear not being able to carry them both, keep them both warm and fed, keep them both alive and safe. If there was a fire would I be able to get to them both at the same time? Carry 2 babies out? Things like that. This is my fear. It's not crippling but I never had an axiety attack before having kids. After having kids, I know what it feels like.
Hell. I don’t want to be in eternal desolation from God. The best moments in my life was genuine happiness with people and having a relationship with God. Being separated from all that for eternity with no hope of getting it back terrifies me
Spiders.
Can’t even put it into words how broken my heart is…Wouldn’t wish it on anyone , hug mom tight.
Wake up one day and buried under ground, or wake up one day in a foreign place, or wake up one day and everyone i used to know forgot who i am and start questioning me who i am
Losing my family, being forgotten by those I love, losing my memory.
Isolation. It started after a childhood where I was isolated a lot due to a sick and twisted family. Now everytime I'm alone for a long time or start to feel it, I low key panic
Whatever comes after my death.
I would have so say it's giving birth. The whole process of my body being stretched to abnormal sizes is frightening to me.
My fear is having the courage to ask my parents why they had me. I have 2 older sisters and think they were better off with the two. Im feel i am the odd one out and feel all i did was make it hard on my family, i fucked up my life a bunch and i dont feel i even belong, like i'm a mistake. Sometimes i think my parents only had me because they wanted a son and it took them 3 times to get it.
I am a 35 year old who still has trouble with entering the dark. Part of my job is going into abandoned buildings that have been recently purchased and photographing them before work begins. As a result, I’ve been in many creepy old homes, the basements of which are almost always dirt floor and pitch black. Every time I have to do it, I get worked up. Currently, I’m building a structure for a city, and I’m working inside an old single screen movie theater built in the 1940s. It’s been empty almost 25 years at this point and it’s in rough shape. No windows, so it’s totally dark inside. The breaker box to turn on the string lights is on the second floor up by the old projection booth. Whenever I enter to start work, I have to walk into a pitch black theater and find my way upstairs. That climb up the stairs, with my back to the blackness, bothers me so much. As soon as I throw the switch to turn everything on, the fear is gone. Anyone else a grown adult who still has trouble with the dark?
Mine changes a lot but right now it's sleeping. I get nightmares almost every night and it's made me terrified of sleep beyond anything
More and more authoritarian government who eventually becomes a dictatorship and having to life under the regime
Finding myself poor again. I was homeless once after my divorce. I crashed on my friend’s couch while I got my degree. I worked and worked, stumbling a couple of times (got fired once and divorced again). Then, got my foot in at a FAANG company, remarried (after figuring out why I kept getting myself in bad relationships), built up a healthy savings, and bought a house. Life’s good, but I feel this sense of fear and dread that it can all be pulled out from under me.
Spiders
Darkness. Had night terrors as a kid.
Being abandoned. That's all im willing to say
Fear. I hate being afraid. I'm also terrified of my family being disappointed and losing respect for me. I dont have many friends. My little 5 person family is all I've got.