Fear Of......
 

HardDrive mentioned fear of heights. I am not afraid of many things, but I do NOT like heights. Even looking at a photograph looking down from a height makes me queazy. I do not go to the edge of a height like a roof and, candidly, weirdly, it's because I think I might jump off. I don't have a suicidal impulse. If I jump, it will be "just because." Hard to explain. Like turning a car into oncoming traffic at speed. It's an impulse I have, and it scares me.

Okay, enough of that. I am very afraid of heights. The carnival ride I avoid is the Ferris Wheel. But here's the thing: My favorite carnival ride is the Zipper. I am totally fine with heights as long as I am enclosed. I love to fly in airplanes.

I don't love spiders or snakes.

What are you afraid of?

I have raced MX, fly experimental aircraft, raced cars, whitewater kayaked, skied double black diamonds etc.... I am scared crapless to sky dive however as I am not 100% in control of the chute opening properly.

Oh and I am afraid of getting old and fat. :D

Your fear of jumping off is not unusual, believe it or not. Lots of people, if not all, have impulsive thoughts. The difference is some don’t have sound impulse control. Impulse control is learned, usually at a very young age.

Interestingly, that learned impulse control is diminished with alcohol consumption (along with impaired judgement). The ‘Hold My Beer!’ phenomenon. One theory is that impulse control is a common reason for people to have a fear of firearms. They don’t trust themselves with one and subsequent to the phenomenon of projection, don’t trust anyone else with one, either.

Heights as in rooftops. Came on several years ago and baffles me. As a kid, I was half monkey, climbing trees, climbing onto roofs with complete abandon. Wife was working in DC for ICE and had a chance to watch the July 4 fireworks from the roof of the HQ building. I hit the roof and began to sweat like the guy in Airplane. Couldn't get near the edge of the roof to look down.

Can no longer get on the roof of the house to do gutters or remove snow.

That said, I can ride chairlifts all day without any concerns at all.

Perhaps I am just nuts.

I did not list fear of heights because I think it is purely normal to be a little fearful when standing near the edge of a slippery sloped steel roof two stories up. There is a true risk of tripping or slipping and falling from a height that will cause significant injury.

I am not generally fearful of heights when I am hanging onto something solid like on a ladder or strapped into something like an airplane.

My dad was building the second story above our garage and the stairwell opened up to the second floor with no walls. Mom could not leave the stairwell to walk around on the second level even though it was flat and the edges were 10’ away, at least. Total phobia.

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A bit ironic - Superman: Up, Up and .. oh, never mind. I'm good walking.

Perhaps, but you are not alone. SmileWavy

Tim, some folks have no real fear of heights....or perhaps just a healthy, reasonable fear. This sounds like your situation. Iron Workers, erecting "red iron," work hundreds of feet from the ground and walking on steel that is just a few inches wide.

I would be frozen with fear. Terrified, even if I were able to unfreeze myself enough to scoot on my butt to a place of rescue. People like me won't walk to the edge of a roof.

But I love airplane rides and I will get on my one-story, gently sloping roof but I will stay away from the edge and the transition from ladder to roof, and especially from roof back to ladder, is unnerving.

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To the best of my knowledge I have no phobias.

I don't go climbing on towers but to go to the edge of a building, or at the grand canyon and look over is no big deal.

Snakes get my respect, and I don't mess with them, just leave them be if they are non poisonous and in the back yard. So far no copper-headded-rattle-moccasins with a coral tip have appeared in our yard. Spiders don't bother me, and again, I don't just handle them outside, I just leave them be, and I just kill them inside if they invaded my home at the insistence of my wife. I gotta protect and defend the castle!

Yep, this came up before. I think my grandmother has the same thing.

I've got one that's similar, but different. I've never been in a fight. I've always been afraid that if I got in a fight that I'd kill someone. As I've never been in a fight AND have no desire to kill anyone, I have absolutely no reason to suspect that I would or could kill someone that easily. It's completely unfounded and unreasonable, pretty much the same as assuming you'd jump if put into a weird high spot.

That's not really a phobia type fear since I don't put myself into or get into those situations. If I have had folks acting like they were trying to pick a fight, I didn't have any strong fear stuff come up.

As far as strong fears or phobias, like snakes, tight spaces, heights, nope, I'm not aware of any. As I kid I climbed lots of trees. In our old home, I used to walk around on the roof of the second floor. I do try to avoid the roof of our current home. I've been up there once. It's got a steeper pitch than our old home.

snakes and spiders, no big deal (unless they are a surprise to the face). The other day we were out walking the property with the grandsons and saw a snake. It was a non-venomous water snake. I stood looking at it, and when it started to move, it slithered right between my feet. I just waited.

My last ex-girlfriend and before that my ex-fiance'.......both of which were red heads btw.......

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really interesting that you had a late life change like that, but it's only certain circumstances.

As I aged, body changes. Big one is neuropathy in feet made my balance shot. So yeah, a "fear" of heights. Roofs and ladders are a no-no. Arthritic joints don't flex like they used to, so a "fear" of getting stuck in small places. Won't crawl under the house. I guess you could call that claustrophobia.

I never did like being in a crowd tho, so I've always avoided large gatherings in buildings...is there a fear name for that?

The higher I get, the more uneasy I become. It’s funny when you’re standing on the roof that’s 50 or 100 feet high and looking over the edge, you have thoughts of jumping and what would happen.

I remember 30 years ago cleaning the gutters on our drive under house with two stories. Ms. Rocket made me wear my race car helmet in case I fell off. Wearing that helmet made it so much harder to work and clean the gutters.

Hmm, i wouldn't say that I have a fear of small/tight spaces, claustrophobia or anything like that, but I do have a healthy sense of self preservation. So that's a big, fat, hell NOPE! Not happening.

I'd love to be a spelunker, but I'm not a worm or burrito, so there are places that I would not go, at least, not unless there were plenty of other folks, and I know that I was not trail blazing.

Wow, I hadn't seen/heard the whole video before I posted. What a horrible time for everyone involved. And maybe it's just me, but that seemed REALLY foolish.

Started off with a fear of heights my first day as a climber/installer for a local communications company in Portland, Or. Quickly lost that fear and really enjoyed the views while up high.

Lost all that now though, don't even like being on a single story roof. Vertigo city!
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As I've gotten older I realize I'm no longer 10ft tall and bullet proof. Heights didn't bother me and to a great extent neither did confined spaces. Now both do to a certain extent. I hate the transition from a roof to the ladder I used to get on the roof.

The tower below requires the Soldier and/or team to get from floor to floor using the outside edge of the floor. No problem back in the day for me.

Oh yeah, I hate snakes. Nearly got bit by a rattler in my teens.

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I'm not claustrophobic to any degree but caving scares me. The thought of being stuck in a crack underground with no way out terrifies me.