The day I thought would never come, where I would have to face one of my major phobias while writing an article for you fine readers, is here.
We will get to that later after my thoughts find a cohesive flow. Or maybe it could be I'm procrastinating because I'm already breaking out in hives as I type.
Phobias. Maybe it's presumptuous to say we all have one. But when you consider all the fears the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has identified, it can force you really examine yourself and revisit something so fearful, it's been buried in your head somewhere.
Fear of small spaces, spiders, heights, and even clowns. There's a reason why Pennywise was the main antagonist in Stephen King's It. The morbid clown is purely the stuff of nightmares.
Curious to hear about the thing that keeps people up at night, Redditor Green_Own asked:
"What's a weird phobia you have?"
The ASA may not have official names for these paranoia-inducing scenarios, but the following examples make these Redditors tremble.
Tremors And Scalding Liquids
"An earthquake happening while i'm deepfrying or in the middle of draining boiling hot pasta water."
Increase Of Intensity
"I get anxious when a sound get progressively louder, or beeping gets progressively faster, I don't know why."
Boo To The Residue
"Maybe not overly weird, but i get unnatural anxiety if i have anything sticky on my skin, jelly, jam, cola, that kinda stuff. I hate it. I have to get it off instantly."
Safety Measure
"Maybe not a phobia just a little paranoia, I always cover my camera with my finger when I scroll on my phone when using the bathroom, I'm deathly afraid I will accidentally FaceTime somebody."
There is the G-spot and then there is also the nope-spot.
Absolutely no touchy, 'cause these Redditors don't likey.
Portal To My World
"Having my belly button touched. Some part of me is sure you can just push through to my insides right there."
"I can't let my belly button get touched. It sends a physical like 'chill' type of feeling through my whole body. Idk what it is, if I have a whole bunch of nerves there for some reason, but I can't touch it or let anything touch it."
Literal Achilles' Heel
"Having my Achilles' tendon touched by anything."
"I freak out around shopping carts."
These physical or aural environments make some people want to retreat under the bed sheets.
Not So Grate
"Sidewalk grates. like these f'kers. always have an irrational fear that they'll collapse beneath me or whatever."
The Big Bang
"I hate balloons popping."
"I get extreme anxiety when little kids start squeezing them. It's not the volume of the noise, it's the unpredictability."
Labyrinthine
"I'm scared of being in a maze."
"Not sure if this will help but you can get out of any maze by putting a hand (left or right) on the wall/hedge closest to that hand and continuing to walk while maintaining contact with your hand, until you are out. It isn't efficient, but it is effective."
This brings us to my phobia. It's called submechanophobia.
Basically, it's a fear of a man-made object – like a giant building, statue, or shipwreck – that is either partially or entirely submerged in a large body of water.
In Long Beach, California, the retired British ocean liner – the RMS Queen Mary – was an operational hotel and museum which featured a dark room overlooking one of the ship's propellers submerged in a tank eerily lit from below. Guests traversed a catwalk around the perimeter above the tank to marvel at the huge mechanical device.
As a six-year-old seeing it for the first time, I remember being paralyzed while inside the room with my parents. I was genuinely terrified and never understood why.
Years later, I revisited it. I'm still intrigued by it – yet I absolutely remain fearful of it.
After recently discovering the term for my phobia, I felt validated for my genuine fear.
It was strangely reassuring but it will forever give me anxiety just thinking about it.
Okay. We're done here.
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