The Fear.

[Stinky Dad]

So what scares you? What phobias does everybody have? How have you beaten your fears? How can you help fellow UKFF'ers to defeat their demons? I'm hoping all or some of these questions could be answered within this thread?!Myself, I'm scared of a few things - Flying, Dogs and Mortality being the biggest fears! Flying I guess is pretty self explanatory. I hate it. Granted I haven't done a great deal but that is down to my phobia. The furthest I have been is Portugal and the very thought of a long haul flight scares the shit out of me. I just hate everything about it and try as I might I don't see a flight as an opportunity to go on a top holiday but rather paying for the pleasure of my demise! Next year it's looking like I'm taking the plunge, pardon the pun, and heading to the States for the Summer so any and all advice ahead of this is greatly appreciated! Dogs. Fucking dogs. I hate them! Unless I know them I'm always really wary around them. Big or small......it doesn't matter. Never been bitten but I never really put myself in the situation where that could happen. If I see a Rottie, Alsation or similar off it's lead or without an owner in the street or park then I'm off the other way. Pussy eh?Mortality. This is something that I don't dwell on to the point of depression or anything but the more I'm getting older the more it scares the living fuck out of me. I'm 33, and recently saw a childhood friend pass away suddenly and maybe that hit it home a little more. I go the gym when I can, my diet is pretty good, I've cut down on the fags and I left the drugs in my twenties but when I party I party like it's 1999! Still, despite all those positives it's something that still creeps into my psyche more often than it should do. So there you go, they're mine....you have a go or better still any advice on combatting any of those fears would make me forever indebted to you! Failing that you could call me a pussy and carry on.

[ThePhenom]

I'm actually petrified of Rats and Mice (or any animal really, but small and furry ones are the worst). If one would to come near me I'd probably jump on a chair and start screaming without a single thought of how I'd look. I can't stand the thought of heights either, flying is a nightmare.

[niff]

For those who hate flying its probably doing the long haul flying that will help. My friend hates flying but we made it to Australia and back (with 2 internal flights) and by the very last flight home he quite happily strolled on and sat back instead of praying and fretting. The M6 is way more dangerous than being up in the air. My ridiculous phobia is buttons. Over time its become a general dislike of them and I avoid wearing them. Probably something from childhood no doubt.

[Halitosis Romantic]

For those who hate flying its probably doing the long haul flying that will help. My friend hates flying but we made it to Australia and back (with 2 internal flights) and by the very last flight home he quite happily strolled on and sat back instead of praying and fretting. The M6 is way more dangerous than being up in the air. My ridiculous phobia is buttons. Over time its become a general dislike of them and I avoid wearing them. Probably something from childhood no doubt.

I never thought I'd hear someone else say buttons - there was this bird, a friend of a friend, who always wore zippered tops, and t-shirts. I asked her once, and she didn't know I'd already been tipped off. When she said she was afraid of buttons, I whirled around in my coat with massive buttons on it, and said "like these?" Fair play, she screamed like someone had just made her watch a Button Moon marathon.

[Slapnut]

I'm absolutely shit scared of birds. Completely terrified. About 2 years ago I missed my coach at Victoria bus station because I wouldn't go inside due to the pigeons. I've been seen by three different hypnotists and none of it has worked (although I don't think I saw them enough for it to work).I get really irritated when people say they have a phobia when they just have a slight fear. People that say they have a phobia of water makes me sick.

[Loki]

I don't like flying. It's not a phobia full-on, more an understanding of how far up in the air I am in a large hunk of steel that's being held up by nothing more than a large amount of velocity. The number of things that can go wrong is what daunts me.

[Halitosis Romantic]

I fear no man, as long as he isn't a clown.Spiders, too - not good with spiders.

[Stinky Dad]

I'm absolutely shit scared of birds. Completely terrified. About 2 years ago I missed my coach at Victoria bus station because I wouldn't go inside due to the pigeons. I've been seen by three different hypnotists and none of it has worked (although I don't think I saw them enough for it to work).I get really irritated when people say they have a phobia when they just have a slight fear. People that say they have a phobia of water makes me sick.

Now you see I'd totally forgot about birds......it's not so much the living ones but dead ones. I fucking hate having to walk past them on the road or pavement. There was one only the other day I passed in our road that was half squashed. It was sat upright in the road, obviously dead, but only the back half had been run over and it's arse end had exploded. The top half was still all perfectly formed. Barring it's eyes. They were hanging out. You'd have fucking hated it!

[niff]

For those who hate flying its probably doing the long haul flying that will help. My friend hates flying but we made it to Australia and back (with 2 internal flights) and by the very last flight home he quite happily strolled on and sat back instead of praying and fretting. The M6 is way more dangerous than being up in the air. My ridiculous phobia is buttons. Over time its become a general dislike of them and I avoid wearing them. Probably something from childhood no doubt.

I never thought I'd hear someone else say buttons - there was this bird, a friend of a friend, who always wore zippered tops, and t-shirts. I asked her once, and she didn't know I'd already been tipped off. When she said she was afraid of buttons, I whirled around in my coat with massive buttons on it, and said "like these?" Fair play, she screamed like someone had just made her watch a Button Moon marathon.

Haha! I wouldn't scream at the sight of it but I'd be repulsed by your taste in clothing. Button Moon was awesome but I don't remember there being much focus on buttons as you don't see the whole of it much.

[Devon Malcolm]

Hypnophobia is something that I have struggled with, on and off, since I was 18. For me it very much falls under the description of feeling of control loss. I've never really spoken to anyone about it except my wife but I would imagine I will seek professional help about it sooner rather than later although at the moment I'm not suffering with it too much.

[Stinky Dad]

Hypnophobia is something that I have struggled with, on and off, since I was 18. For me it very much falls under the description of feeling of control loss. I've never really spoken to anyone about it except my wife but I would imagine I will seek professional help about it sooner rather than later although at the moment I'm not suffering with it too much.

That must be a terrible condition to struggle with. I had a minor heart problem 4 years ago where I had a fast and irregular heartbeat that was eventually treated with an electric shock. The after effects of it hit me quite hard and I had convinced myself that I could die suddenly so struggled to sleep quite a bit during those days for fear of passing away whilst I was asleep. It was a very hard thing to have to deal with at the time but ultimately the battle was only with my own mind. My problem is my mind can be so fucking vivid and the power of which can really destroy a man!

[BiffingtonClyro]

I've recently had this odd fear about Bed Bugs. I was reading an article that said that a shit load of hotels have them and even carriages on the London subway. I don't stay in hotels a lot and have never been on the Tube but the thought of sitting on public transport and carrying those fuckers into my flat and bed gives me the shivers. Fucking yuck. I'm not particularly fond of moths either. When I was about twelve I slept in my living room for about five days because there was a massiv furry headed dusty moth in my bedroom. I was too cowardice to tell any of my family I was scared of this critter incase they thought I was a fucking wimp (which I was). Eventually it disappeared, thank fuck.

[Kookoocachu]

Aliens :(Not the monster looking type Aliens, I'm on about the greys and Signs-esque. I find it really difficult to even explain, I am totally shit scared of them I even used to faint at the sight of one. Over the years I've tried to desensitise (sp?) myself to them and I've done quite well. I'm now able to watch Signs (which I love, great story and I like being scared by a film) But I'm still unable to watch War of the Worlds properly, the original and the remake. I recently tried to watch it properly all the way through and ended up screaming in fright and literally climbing up my friend who although also has a sort of fear of greys, he of course found it hilarious. Whilst I am petrified of them, I'm still fascinated by them. I have had this fear from a very early age but also the interest in finding out more. My dad is an astronomer and I spent most of my childhood looking at the skies. I remember seeing my first UFO, well two of them at once. We were watching a meteor shower, I think it was the Persiuds, and the weather satellite went over. Then we noticed to lights racing towards it, each one over taking the other before getting kind of close and suddenly both shoot off in different directions. I was crying my eyes out but still watched, my eyes were glued to them. Then I had horrific nightmares for years because I thought they knew I had seen them. I keep looking up now and see one occasionally. You've just got to know where to look, and having crystal clear skies with no light pollution down here helps. Still cry when I see one too.

[I Bent My Wookie]

Loud noises is probably my worst one, absolute nightmare with fireworks and all that jazz, I can handle loud music because it's not a shock to the system, but any form of sharp sound seems to just near kill me.Heights, water and bridges as well, which when walking to college across a combination of all 3 always leaves me a bit shit brained.

[Tommy!]

Fouling myself and being done for a crime I didn't commit.Obviously both unpleasant things for any one but both seem to sit very heavy on my mind in unreasonable or unlikely situations and create more than a normal sense of concern, but not enough to be debilitating.