We’re all afraid of something. While it would be easy for me to say atychiphobia (I just want to get it right!) or anuptaphobia (Please God, Don’t let me end up alone with a thousand cats!), there are only two fears I can say I genuinely have…
Arachnophobia
Black Widow Spider (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I wasn’t always afraid of spiders. In the past, I was only too happy to scoop up a rogue arachnid and place it in its proper environment. Oh, how times have changed.
I often refer to 2011 as The Year of the Black Widow. The mini-terrors were everywhere and it seemed there was no getting rid of them. After receiving a bite following a trip to the shed and enduring the misery that followed, my feelings towards spiders have forever changed. Some say I’m just bitter because my experience didn’t result in any super-powers, but no eight-legged freak of nature is going to bite me and think she can get away with it. Let me see a spider today. I’ll scream at the top of my lungs until someone comes running with a shoe in one hand and a can of Raid in the other.
Achluophobia
Flashlight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I remember when a few squirts of my dad’s “monster spray” was enough to ensure a good night’s sleep. How sad it was when I discovered it was only water. I’m well into my twenties and my fear of the dark still hasn’t quite subsided. I’m sure my refusal to sleep without a night-light has something to do with my occasional insomnia, but there won’t be any sleeping at all without it. Now that I’m grown up, I think I’m just afraid of being left alone with my own thoughts.
Do you have any irrational fears? You can share. Don’t be afraid 
Bees. I’m convinced they all want to sting me, though I’ve never been stung. I will literally jump and sprint away, convinced a bee is in mad pursuit. : )
I think my biggest fear is fear itself
So with you on the spiders. I was okay with them until I had a friend that was bit by a brown recluse. Nasty. And then hearing her tales of the effects of the meds on her brain made it worse. And since it’s hard to tell the difference between a brown recluse and just about any other generic spider? Yeah, they’re all dead to me.
Toxins don’t really agree with me, either. Recovery can be just as nasty. I have friends who love creatures big and small and give me the evil eye when I reach for the bug spray, but at the end of the day, I just want to live.
Arachnophobia, same as you! At least you have a reason for being afraid, my fear just appeared from nowhere, I’ve never been bitten or anything! If I see a spider I’ll run screaming and wait for someone to get rid of it before venturing back into the room where it was! I also don’t like pictures of spiders, so that one you used has freaked me out! (That’s how bad my irrational fear is!) Great post
Didn’t mean to scare you! On some level, I think we’re taught to fear things like bugs and spiders from a young age to keep us from bothering things that could be potentially harmful to us. The scary things we see on TV about such creatures also play a role. There are so many things I never thought to be afraid of until I saw something about it on television.
Hey Beth!
I’m scared of spiders and the dark too. I have a hard time sleeping sometimes because of it!
Nikki – inspire nordic
It’s not a fear, but I have a strong dislike of eyebrows. I won’t say anymore…except I should point out that my eyebrows are still fully intact, they don’t freak me out sooo much that I’d want to get rid of them.
Ok…now I’m slightly ashamed of myself…
Don’t be ashamed! As long as you can handle your own eyebrows, that’s all that matters
I’m utterly terrified of moths and bears.
I know quite a few people who are afraid of moths.