No matter how old we get or how brave we think we are, there are always things that scare us. In fact, the older I get and the more invested I get in the world, there might even be more things that terrify me.
If you’re curious what scares the pants off of other people, too, these 18 people are facing their fears for long enough to share them in this thread.
18. It’s a lot to process.
Getting cancer again. I’m 7 years out from treatment. I’ve only recently been able to process the trauma.
I am terrified it will happen again to me.
17. We don’t even want to think about it.
Alzheimer’s disease.
What terrifies me most about Alzheimer’s disease is that you forget to breathe and how to communicate. That is absolutely insane.
On a similar note, Parkinson’s. My grandfather was lucid to the end; but physically he was just completely helpless.
16. Through no fault of your own.
A sudden, devastating medical event- be it an Aneurysm, Testicular Torsion, or a Car Crash- the idea that my life and the lives of my family can, at any moment, be completely shattered
15. You don’t want to have regrets.
Finally discovering very late in life, what I was supposed to have been doing the entire time.
My dad is very risk averse, he has several advanced math degrees and turned down a job in silicon valley in the early 80s. Had he taken the risk, I would have grown up in California with loaded parents.
I always use it to motivate me. I went to college for 6 years, got a horrible f**king job and wanted to die. I risked it all, quit my job, learned how to code, and took the risk my dad never did. Now 4 years later, I quadrupled my salary and have an outstanding resume.
Take calculated risks it can change your life.
14. Leaving your kids before they’re ready.
One day, I’ll die and I won’t be there for my children when they’ll be sick, they’ll be sad and will need help.
I lost my mom, my last remaining family member just months before my first child was born. My beautiful daughter.
My mother wanted to be here to meet her grandchild so bad. I’ve been sick, and I’ve been so incredibly sad, but I will be there for as long as I can for my daughter.
13. Too many sharks.
The thought of Being in the middle of the ocean stranded.
Ooof, Open Water. That film would’ve stayed with me for years even if I hadn’t known it was based on a true story, but knowing that those two people were just abandoned in the open sea (and that no one realized they were gone for TWO DAYS) just ruined me.
12. I would not be ok.
Cockroaches when they start flying.
I went to south america for a summer in my teens. I stayed with a very poor family and slept on the floor. I will always remember being woken up by these strange noises. I turned on the light and the room was absolutely teeming in giant flying cockroaches.
When I turned on the light half of them started flying around. I’ve never been more grossed out and horrified in my life. It still haunts my dreams.
11. A terrible fate.
Locked in syndrome.
Cannot move your body, speak, do anything but think. I think you can move your eyes? Maybe? Otherwise you’re completely at the mercy of your surroundings.
If i ever get it. Just kill me.
10. Just make it quick.
Dying in pain and agony.
And slowly. Death can take months.
9. The human body can really let us down.
Lou Gherigs disease.
The only thing my dad was able to do at the end of his life was breath and blink. Mentally 100% stable and aware of everything around him. So we communicated with him blinking.
When his diaphragm went out that was it. It was awful.
8. Being alone.
My parents dying and leaving me with no one.
Dying alone, forgotten in a nursing home. I’d rather die on my own terms than be miserably sad and lonely and forgotten in a nursing home.
It happens far more than people realize.
7. I’m scared of this, too.
A brain aneurysm. One killed my mother when I was 23, instantly. I rang her 4 days before and she didn’t even have a runny nose then bam, dead. Late fifties.
Supposedly I’m more likely to have one on a hereditary level.
6. Who knows what’s down there?
The deep ocean. Angler fish, Bigfin squid, whatever else. No thanks.
I have an irrational fear of being in the ocean and getting grabbed by a squid or octopus and being dragged down.
5. There’s nothing you can do.
Blood clots, aneurysms anything that you cant really detect happening in Your body until it’s too late. Like WTF.
In a 5 year stretch I knew 12 people who died of blood clots in their legs. 3 of them were related a dad and his two daughters. They all started out with a weird pain in their leg. Then dead. I’m petrified of this. Whenever I get a leg cramp I freak out.
4. It will change you.
Getting into a serious car crash.
I thought mine was something to joke about, since I try to make everything a joke, but only recently did I realize that my crippling fear of breaking down on the side of the road stems from me having to walk to get help. And I was really really injured AF. Shock does wonders.
I only lost my s*%t after someone finally stopped for me and I saw my knees were split open and full of leaves and dirt from crawling up out of the ditch.
3. Straight shivers.
The last scene in The Perfect Storm where the guy is alone in the water during the storm and the camera pulls away until he disappears.
One of the scariest scenes in the history of film.
2. What does it all mean?
The uncertainty of succeeding in life.
There is a much bigger question hidden in that – everyone has to decide what succeeding in life means for them. Figure out what you want for a ‘good life’.
1. It’s just too much.
The ocean. The idea of being in open water in any capacity scares the shit out of me. I’m fine if I’m on a boat, but if I’m in the water I will lose my shit.
Yeah, most of these are hard to argue with for anyone with a sense of self-preservation.
What terrifies you? Let’s keep sharing down in the comments!
