Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I Am Under Construction

Do you have any strange fears? Nothing serious. Just weird?

I realized that I have a funny one today. I was driving to preschool and they are doing road construction on one of the sides of the road. You have to wait your turn and a hard working person turns the little stop sign to let you know if you should stop or proceed slowly. So here is my fear. I have a fear of being the first car in the line. "Where do I go? What if I go in the wrong area? What if I go at the wrong time?" I know it is silly. I can follow directions. I can wait my turn. But, I do get a little nervous when I am not sure where to go. I know they will work on this road for the next week. Part of me wants to take a different route. The rational part of me says that I most likely will not be the first car. And if I do, I can figure it out. Funny how the mind works.

Do you have any irrational fears?

Right now, Ryan is afraid of the dark. This is new. He won't go upstairs to get something without someone with him. He can't even turn on the light. I was like this as a child. Thank goodness it isn't a permanent condition. Can you imagine being a parent who is afraid of the dark? For fun, I looked up the phobia. It is called Nyctophobia. It would be an expensive phobia to have with all of the lights you'd have to have on everywhere you go every day and night of your life.

If you have a fear and you'd like a label, check out www.phobialist.com. You can enter your fear and it will help you pinpoint your phobia. And just for the record, I couldn't find any road construction phobias. I am relieved about that. Tomorrow morning, I will talk myself into taking the road that is under construction. It will be OK. I will be fine. And we will keep the night lights on for Ryan. Just in case.

14 comments:

OHmommy said...

My sister is deathly afraid of buttons. It is a legitimate fear and has a name.

We tease her all the time. I know, BAD sister.

Flea said...

I think I'm afraid of the future.

Anonymous said...

G, it is your brother-in-law Shiplett again. Fears...Wow, good one. I'm afraid of too many things to mention. Seriously! Afraid of being fired. Afraid of dying. Afraid of a member of my family or a friend dying. Afraid of being late to work. Afraid of now, not checking your blog, and having you having written something (without me having checked it -- ok, maybe OCD, but I am afraid that I am OCD!).

A big one for me -- fear of "Some Assembly Required!!" Thank God Lara is "handy". I mean what would I do. Fear of not being a good husband and/or Father because I fear putting anything together. Fear of being asked to introduce myself in public -- what if the words don't come out?! Afraid of literally running out of money!! Wow, this blog is the best, but now you have me scared out of my mind!

Check this out -- and good night, I'm actually afraid that Lara will hear me on the computer at 1:30 in the morning and give me a hard time for not sleeping. Fear of not being able to sleep...Anyway, good night.

"All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears--of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, or speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words "Some Assembly Required."

And yes, I would take another route to school...for at least a week.

Shiplett

Jessica said...

Big Boy #1 is afraid of thunder. He calls it "storms" and will literally shake. He has also mistaken fireworks for "storms" which have caught us off guard at the baseball game and circus. Ruined both experiences for him. I literally wrote it on his preschool form on the question "anything we should know."

I hate snakes :)

Stephanie said...

I'm afraid of throwing up. Yup, strange but true. I will throw myself into a panic attack if I think I'm going to and don't even get me started when my kids are all sick with virus's! On the plus side, I could never be bulimic or an alcoholic! ;oD

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

I can't think of any irrational fears. But, I'm with you on the construction thing...I don't want to mess up!

Kat said...

I'm afraid of clowns. And dentists.
I'm told these are irrational fears. Hmmm.

enthalpymama said...

All of my fears are completely rational, otherwise I wouldn't have them. Oh, except for the fear of someone finding out that I'm afraid of stuff. Did I just say that??

And then there is that fear of saying something rediculous, like I just did.

And to think, I really just logged on to wish you a Happy Birthday.

Clare said...

so funny, i was really afraid of clowns as a kid. but i think a lot of kids are! i am still afraid of the dark, if i am the last one up the basement steps, i will run!! hilarious!

Jessica said...

I'm afraid of being alone at night. It doesn't seem to matter where I am -- whose house, etc. I don't like being alone. I start thinking that I'm seeing or hearing things...I KNOW! I'm weird, what can I say? It doesn't necessarily seem irrational though, does it? OK, maybe a little. :)

Laski said...

Wow! I am so glad I am not alone in that!!! I have been the first person and I'm sure the look of pure dread on my face is the reason the guy with the sign patiently guides me to exactly where I need to go.

I still have a fear of being in an elevator by myself and it getting stuck. With my luck, it would totally happen.

Oh, and I'm with Kathryn . . . clowns freak me out. And circus monkeys. They really freak me out . . .

Anonymous said...

I used to have a fear of birds, after watching Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. Picnics were a disaster. I am proud to announce that I have trained myself out of it. (It was a process that involved me seeking out densely pigeon populated places and getting pooped on) Since I am a dentist I don't have that phobia, however, all hairdressers are very scary people!

Rhea said...

Both my boys are scared of the dark...and sleeping in their own beds. ugh It makes life difficult.

I fear swimming in a pool by myself. I'm scared of drains. I don't know if I'm scared of something coming out of the drain or being sucked in...

Jo Ashline said...

Let's just say that I could identify with a large chunk of whatever is on the phobia website!

I'm Not Talking About It, I'm Just Saying...

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