Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

Friday OT - I’m Afraid of Americans

Angie

Angie

Tugboats and arson.
Staff member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 27, 2006
28,168
12,837
113
IA
What are every day, common place things that give you anxiety or drive you crazy? Things like going to the doctor, getting stuck in traffic. What raises your heart rate and affects you negatively more than it does the average person?

I get airport rage. People in large groups acting selfishly are the worst.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: carvers4math, Sigmapolis, MeanDean and 1 other person
Traffic is a good one. A combination of being easily car sick and claustrophobic on that one.

An odd one for me is movie theaters. Without caving this thing, ever since they had that shooting in Aurora I get to thinking about how there's be no way out if someone were to want to commit violence in there. I don't get that same feeling other public places but there's something about a movie theater that gets the ol' anxiety going in that regard.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Angie
Al_4_State said:
I also hate airports.

I’m getting more claustrophobic as I get older. I’m a volunteer firefighter, and I’ve been in some tight spaces above a room on fire, and that’s definitely changed my outlook on that stuff.
Click to expand...
I also find myself more claustrophobic as I get older, although it does not have anywhere near as valid a source is that. Mine generally is claustrophobia related to big groups of people around me pressing in.

I have only had two panic attacks in my entire life, and they were both at primarily male-attended concerts where everybody was taller than me (5’2”), and I was stuck in the middle of a giant sea of people but couldn’t see anything except torsos and backs, and had no exit. Total claustrophobia-related panic.

I can’t even imagine how much worse it would be with a truly real danger like a fire around you.
 
  • Friendly
Reactions: carvers4math
Al_4_State said:
Box stores of any kind piss me off. I think it has more to do with how my wife shops (wandering the entire store as opposed to just getting what’s on your list) but either way my hatred is real.
Click to expand...

I absolutely adore my mother-in-law who lives across the country, but every time we go to a box store, she is like your wife. It drives me absolutely bananas. I think what makes it worse is that she will be in one section, go to a totally different section across the store, and then go back to the original section.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Al_4_State
Our local Hy-vee. Starts in the congested parking lot, isles that are packed with people pushing carts / employees stocking shelves, dirty facilities, a pharmacy that you have to stand in line by the frozen food refrigerators for someone to help you, and ends with check outs that are only 1/4 in service with carts waiting. I cannot leave fast enough when I get there.
 
  • Like
  • Winner
  • Agree
Reactions: DSM4Cy, Cyientist and Angie
Clonefan32 said:
Bridges are a great one. I have an absolute fear of those things.
Click to expand...

It doesn’t seem like it should be related, but it sort of is. I get freaked out driving behind a semi that has a bunch of cars on a flatbed. Every action movie in the 1990s had all of them flying off and hitting people behind them, so that is what I always assume is going to happen.
 
  • Like
  • Funny
Reactions: SaraV, khardbored, carvers4math and 1 other person
Bridges got me thinking about another one. As a parent, I have an irrational fear of my kids falling from completely safe places, if that makes sense. Being near windows in a high up hotel room, being on a bridge where the wall is a good 4 feet taller than them, the DSM skywalk, the 2nd story at the mall, etc. I'm always making them step back even though there's no risk of them falling.
 
Last edited:
  • Winner
Reactions: Angie
You must log in or register to reply here.

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom
Back