What scares you?

Being homeless. I would rather be in prison for the rest of my life than homeless.

Being stuck in an elevator with a dozen other people who fart simultaneously.

1. Snakes 2. Dying alone and penniless.

I am concerned about being broke and alone. I have a ton of money, but that can be lost quick enough. Broke and alone is a bad situation to be in, at a time when you have little power to influence it.

I'm the youngest in my family and a male. I hate to think of my 6 siblings dying before me. We get together on holidays still. The oldest is 68. Ugh. Life truly is too short. I'd like to do it all again with the knowledge I have now. Anyway, I am scared of seeing them die before me, assuming it goes that way.

Being a washed up child star who has HIV and talks about it on Oprah only to find the DL posters all think I got what I deserved and am a whiny little bitch.

extreme poverty. homelessness. painful sickness. painful sickness and inadequate medical care.

extremely violent and stupid young men

women grinding their teeth, on the rag and on the warpath, and who have power over me for some reason

HOME INVASION.

Another vote for poverty

Being homeless, having an incurable disease, heights, and driving (but I drive everyday anyway).

Biting during oral sex .

Scabies and crabs

Flesh eating bacteria (e.g., the lady on oprah who cut herself while cooking and had almost everything amputated)

Being discussed on DL (sorry R5) - but that already happened to me too. You're RARELY going to be seen positively here - even if you cure HIV, all forms of cancer, and solve climate change simultaneously.

[quote]Flesh eating bacteria (e.g., the lady on oprah who cut herself while cooking and had almost everything amputated)

Wait...what?

I hate dl.

But does it scare you R12?

Homelessness, poverty, lack of health insurance... and thanks to a DL thread last night, [bold]trypophobia[/bold]

R11, the original episode is not online - but here's a follow up link below. I think Oprah had two guests who had this. One of them was about a woman who was chopping food and got a small cut...and apparently the variant of staph or MRSA that is necrotizing (eats flesh) was on the knife... she had a searing sharp pain in her shoulder that night and went to the ER. The ER docs gave her tylenol and sent her home. Then, her fever spiked - and she went back... they sent her home AGAIN. Finally, it became apparent that she had a problem & she was air lifted to a special hospital to treat it because of the complexity. The only way to treat it was via amputation since antibiotics wouldn't work this late.

Anyway, here's one of the women - this one appears to have acquired the bacteria during childbirth? She lost all her limbs. If you google this, you'll see the lady who lost her arm up to her shoulder - from chopping food. I mixed them up. She just lost her arm.

President Trump

The thought of becoming an invalid...in any way. Know I am going to die alone and lonely, but hope I am in complete control till the end.

I am afraid that my nephew has been brainwashed by the Right and will be stupid all his life. Seriously. He bought a Trump hat. What a fool. He's only 19 or so, and that's still a child, whatever the law says, but I'm afraid he will never mature.

His father is a 60 year old child as well. Doesn't know an honest day's work, hides income from the tax man but loses money by not investing it after paying taxes on it. Drinks beer with his fascist friends. He gets worse as he ages.

Being hit by a meteor.

Brain eating amoebas are much more scary than flesh eating bacteria IMHO. More common too. I won't go swimming if the water is warm and unchlorinated anymore. Hell, you even have to know where your shower water is coming from.

Reading this thread.

Sharting

Getting cancer

Never falling in love again/dying alone

Not afraid to be old and alone, afraid to be without funds and ill and old and alone. As long as I have my wits, and a dollar to pay someone to help me, I will be ok.

i'm alone now and i'll probably die alone. oh well. my life sucked at birth.

surprise anal

Being so ugly that nobody desires me. I'm not the hottest but I'm pretty good looking and can be charming. It has made life more manageable and I flirt with my superiors at work in order to get special treatment.

R24 I'm with you on that.That's all that would help any of towards the end.Money.

death. I don't want to die although I am pretty young

I'm afraid for when R27 hits the wall, age-wise.

Dying in a fire.

I did a term paper in 7th grade about the Cocoanut Grove fire and ever since then I almost obsessively check the fire exits whenever I'm in a public place. Now that I'm (ahem) middle-aged, it's not much of a problem, but when I was in my 20s and would go to concerts in packed arenas and hang out in crowded clubs, it caused me quite a bit of anxiety. Even though the Cocoanut Grove fire was 70+ years ago, more recent fires such as The Station club shows that you can't trust club management to keep you safe.

Oddly dying alone doesn't bother me. Dying is, IMO a singular experience no one can share. I've spent time at the deathbeds of my parents, and the odd aunt and uncle, a few friends who died untimely deaths, and at a certain point, they neither know nor care that you're there. Their minds are focused somewhere else. And the people sitting "vigil" usually are restless and disinterested in their own way, wanting it to be over and dreading it at the same time. Then that last gasp, and people suddenly snap to attention and start screaming. (We're Lebanese.) So not dying alone.

I think being poverty stricken scares me, or being homeless. But most of all, and I guess it's connected to poverty, is the feeling of powerlessness. Now that scares me. I'm talking about being powerless to make your own decisions. I'm talking about depending on other people to do things like bathe you, or feed you, or wheel you to the toilet. That kind of powerlessness. I watched my uncle in a nursing home. It was horrible.I'd rather blow my brains out. At a certain point quality of life deteriorates and you have no say, and if you try to assert your wishes you're either overruled or ignored. You can't come and go at will, and you're beset by overbearing, sometimes abusive people who you have to depend on.

Running out of money as I age. If it happened now I could handle it, but I have no family, and I'm terrified of growing older, gradually losing cognitive skills, and not being able to deal with anything even remotely outside my comfort zone.

Being mistaken for someone posted in the People of Walmart website.

Feline aids.

Extreme poverty, large predators and tight underground spaces. Other things I have been very frightened of during my lifetime have already happened or begun to happen. So far I have survived.

...fears if maitre d's and rats...

There is that cat virus I read about that changes human's personality, if you catch it. That makes me not want to pet cats.

Fear itself.

I'm afraid I will be the 40th poster on this thread.

Regarding homelessness, a very wise poster warned me that it is too easy to acclimate yourself to being poor.

Since then, I've done the car-living and homeless shelter bit and now I'm slowly clawing my way out using a manual labor shit job with mandatory overtime that doesn't care about my business degree or anything else.

I'm afraid for my family - we've had a lot of deaths and I always keep a dark suit (even when I was in a shelter) on hand. Oh, and I'm afraid of being buried in a box alive.

Actually, toxoplasmosis may help introverts and conscientious people become extroverted successful assholes. Know a quiet introvert who struggles to be a risk taking asshole? Get him a cat.

Earrings

Caftans

Republicans and Conservatives. Especially them winning elections.

They're fucking terrifying.

Being a sad, broken and lonely person for the rest of my life.

Ordering pizza.

If I work another ten years I can at least qualify for the old actors' home in Englewood, NJ, so I'm not going to waste money on long-term care insurance. They'll take SS+Medicaid once you qualify. I hear it's nice. I just don't want to be desperately ill with no quality of life for a long time.

the ocean scares me.

Oh, R47, do more research.

That the new Janet album may enter at #1. Just imagine Janbot then.

Growing old and alone and never having anyone to love who loves me back.

I'm afraid the guy with the head congestion and flight plans for the weekend is going to ruin everybody's weekend when his plane descends and his head explodes.

Note to Homeland Security: I am referring to the pressure difference in this fella's head and the surrounding environment due to a rapid plane descent and his stuffed-up ears, NOTHING ELSE. Maybe he'll just get the bends.

^ afraid of Homeland Security.

I'm legitimately afraid of straight white Christian male conservatives.

They're clearly violent and evil.

It's a mental heath problem.

That, me being afraid (no reason; just came over me on a routine flight, good weather, no problems from Chicago to Newark) to fly for the past 31 years - and NEVER flying since - that a plane will crash someday on whatever building I live. Oh, the irony.

The thought of Hillary Clinton being elected POTUS.

R56, do you really fear that, because that's just cuckoo?

I'm scared of idiots like R57.

We have the same fears, OP.

Getting killed by either a shark or alligator . I don't know what would be worse. .

I understand that an alligator will lock its jaws around you then pull you under to drown you. A shark will just take a bite out of you, and then it will give some thought as to whether or not you were tasty, and are too week to fight back. I think alligators are meaner.

My cousin's baby drown in a Florida lake, behind their house. I have long hoped it was a drowning, and not an alligator related event, which would be even more horrible to witness in person.

Snakes

After today's mass shooting, leaving my fuckinbg house scares me. You can't go to work, or to the Mall, or to church, or a movie without worrying about getting shot. We even have shooters standing on the bridges sniping at cars down on the freeway. We are an extremely fucked up society.

I was going to crack wise about Joan Crawford but am feeling the same as R64 now...

I blame the parents, r64.

What ever happened to a good old fashioned egging?

No one else is afraid of war?

With unending globalization, increasing wealth gaps, racial resentment/identity politics, and religious extremism, I foresee a future of fragmentation and eventual annihilation of life as we know it. Or maybe just annihilation of life.

What R57 said

[quote]No one else is afraid of war?

Depends on the type of war. If it's simply a bombardment, take cover underground until it's over. If it's a street-to-street free-for-all, get out of the way, go somewhere else until the combatants have finished killing each other.

The human organism is surprisingly resilient under extreme adversity. You will be amazed at how strong, resourceful and adaptable you are in times of war.

The effects of self-imposed isolation upon our society.

I tune out. It seems our public goes more extreme just to garner any attention - no matter how fleeting.

Snakes

Bathophobia (Fear of falling from heights)

Being locked in a room with one or more people.

That I will not accomplish everything I want to before this awesome wild ride called Life ends forever.

White male conservative gun-nuts.

New neighbors, new people. I live in a building and when I first moved in everyone had been here for years. But over the last five years most people move and out within 18 months and I don't know anyone. I'm not good with change and this freaks me out.

To the people afraid of being old and alone, If you live long enough and are single with no children, unless you have a partner, you probably will be alone in your older years. That is the situation I'm in (except my dad is still living) and it's really not as bad as you would think. I am an only child and am not close to extended family. But I meet people and some care about me. They don't love me like my parents do/did but they do care. I have pets, one very close friend, and a couple of other friends and life is pretty good. I'm happy. You can't isolate and have to search for friends, but good people are out there. I am even thinking about going to a nearby church if I get really lonely, where I hear the people are not judgemental.

I'm terrified of home invasion, being murdered, and being homeless and poverty stricken though. Oh, and after reading the thread about the girl being eaten by a bear while talking on her cell phone with her mom, I'm afraid of bears.

That the rage and sadness in me will just keep growing.

Nursing Homes

I worked in one when I was younger. I'd rather live in a small, one room apartment than in one of those nightmarish hellholes.

when people take a big shit and do not flush the toilet.

A painful disease. I will take my own life via Xanax and wine before suffering too long. Or, go the doctor assisted route here in Oregon.

Getting old is scary. Not having enough money for basic necessities. Illness, loneliness. No one to help us. No one to speak for us.

These things scare us all.

When I look at my parents, both in their 80s with various health issues and I'm glad I'm here to help them in their old age. But then I'm horrified at the thought of being their age with no money and no one to help me. Some nights I can't sleep worrying about that.

I know truly understand the meaning of "Getting old isn't for sissies."

My father will be 91 in January 2016. Lives on his own in his flat, organises caregivers/cleaners, still drives, remains fiercely independent and in pretty decent. I aspire not only to live to at least 90, but to be just like my father. Worrying about what will be is a mug's game, useless. Enjoy, experience, take the road less travelled. LIVE!

^^^ in pretty decent health.^^^

I fear that my aspergers will keep me from ever experiencing love.

i'm resigned to live the rest of my life alone. scary but true. i need new friends so badly.

Me too R86. I don't mind knowing I'll never have a man in my life, but making new friends seems even harder than getting a boyfriend.

Me to R86 Other than family I don't associate with anyone except online.

R58, R56 here. You might also have said, being afraid to fly is cuckoo, too; my brother and most of my friends think this. No, I don't fear a plane crashing on my building as an everyday fear, just think it would be SO ironic. I also fear being killed by a bear; always have. This is pretty irrational, too, as I don't live in "bear country" though the more I see on TV/online that they seem to be getting closer, in some places, then years ago - I get scared. I suppose day-to-day fears? The dark. Keep every light in my smallish (c. 600 sq. feet) apt on most of the time; have been this way for past 15 years. Riddled with fears, I am.

women's pussies scare me. they're so loose and sloppy.

I remember seeing Robin Williams on the Tonight Show shortly after he had open heart surgery. He was 58 at the time. He said that he became sad and depressed after his surgery because he realized he was facing his own mortality, and realized he was on the down side of life, and his time on earth was limited. I think we all feel this way as we age, and you can't help but worry about the future.

Looking back, people around him probably never realized how depressed he actually was. We do a great job hiding our feelings, and end up feeling very alone and afraid. Aging is a difficult process, both physically and mentally. It's a sad way to end life's journey.

If you really are worried about aging etc. then you need to get busy. I have observed that people who stay busy and don't have a lot of time on their hands are healthy and happier, and less prone to depression and anxiety. Don't be afraid of dying alone. You'll die when you die. No one can control when or how, so just let it go.

Can I just say that many of us are self conscious or prideful. We don't want the larger world to know we are needy or lonely or friendless, etc. So we hide away and let time pass, and do nothing but wring our hands about our situation.

Don't do that to yourself.There are so many people out here in today's world who are in the same predicament. Even those of us who had larged extended families at one time, might sudenly find that we're the "last man standing." We need to put pride aside and just show up. Whether it's at church, or the public library, or some volunteer group, or taking a class, or participating in a book club, a choir, hospital volunteer, WTF ever. Show Up.

Dying alone. It looks increasingly likely.

Mob rule; cultural rot; censorship; the Tech Bros; political corruption; dumb teachers.

ANOTHER FUCKING THREAD FROM 2015. STOP THE MADNESS!

Dementia. I really don't want to live much past 75. My mother, aunt, and other relatives all suffered from it in old age.

I'm scared my husband will die before me. I want to die first.

Being drunk in public and having 2 guys try to escort me off to another location and attempt to fist me.