What is a specific fear you have?

That the shadowy creatures I see creep by every single corner, just out of sight, are actually real.

This

1000019084

This guy gave me a lot of nightmares when I was 6 to 11 years old. Maybe because it showed up abruptly from a side of the screen

I have an irrational fear of Beaker of the Muppets.

Losing all of my memories, and therefore proof that I've lived, to hereditary dementia.

A slow and painful death. Also,injury causing brain damage.

My car breaking down at a railroad crossing while a train is coming towards me.

Omg... reading these comments... I mean, no disrespect, but it's very pitiful, aren't they?

Absolutely not, all fears are valid.

Pool drains. Hate them. Whenever I go swimming, I always avoid them.

That this 80 year old psychopath has nukes and when he faces a fatal medical diagnosis is 100% of the "if i cant have it nobody will" mentality. Now that I think of it there are at least 2 more of these type of psychos leading nations sitting on nuclear arsenals now. Yea, we're fucked! Shoulda scuttled nukes while we had a chance. Certainly before we elected a toddler with a loaded handgun.

Is it really you?
Oh, something political related? You should get outta the house more...

You know, every time I mention this I get strange looks (I also have now just realized that makes me sound like I bring this up very often - I've done so maybe twice):

My odd specific fear is based around the fact that I have quite a few medical issues, a lot of the symptoms haven't been resolved yet due to not knowing the root cause. This has been the case for years... I fear that I'll end up leaving this planet in some strange way that ends up triggering an autopsy being performed on me. The examiner then basically says "Wow, this guy lived a tough life. If only his doctors had known about XYZ, these issues could've been easily solved" - and that effectively all of this that I deal with is "for nothing".

On one hand, I like to think that if seeing numerous specialists for how long I've been doing so hasn't resulted in answers, then it's probably not super likely that an ME would just randomly find the answer on a simple autopsy.

On the other hand, quite a few of the doctors that I see don't really listen, and are always in a rush to get you out the door in five minutes... So maybe not.

In the end, I try not to think about it too often - there's nothing more that I can do, at least not reasonably. I mean sure, I could go to medical school and try to become a doctor and hope by then I have the knowledge to diagnose myself, but I wouldn't really call that "reasonable". Plus, I hear doctors make terrible patients.

TLDR
- And that's fine, at the end of the day, I'm not forcing you or anyone else to read it. OP asked for a specific fear, and I responded - that's all.
I get this it's a valid fear. What's your gut instinct about it?
- Hmm, do you mean whether they'd find an answer (or even what the answer might be)? If so, it's tough to say.
  
  Edit: This is a much longer response than I intended to give... My bad!
  
  One of the issues I've been dealing with for example is I'm constantly incredibly tired. The feeling that most people have when they first wake up for a couple of minutes where they're not fully awake even though they're "physically awake" is the closest I can describe it, except I have it all day most of the time.
  
  Doesn't matter how much sleep I get, the result ends up pretty much being the same. I do often have sleep issues, but sometimes I think that it's a cyclical result of me being too tired throughout the day and thus not doing enough, and so my brain doesn't think that it's time to sleep because I haven't done anything (but then because I don't sleep well, the next day I still end up doing "not enough" because I'm even more tired from the lack of sleep)... I'm not even sure if that makes sense, but when I bring it up to doctors they don't seem to think it's a crazy theory.
  
  Trying to find out the root cause though has not been easy, as sadly lethargy and fatigue are very generic symptoms - the amount of things that can cause it (even on a chronic level like mine) is... quite a list. And then if you eliminate one, that doesn't mean that others aren't affecting you either.
  
  So for example, it's common for me to be low on iron and other essential vitamin levels because I have Crohn's Disease which one of the side effects is that you have a hard time absorbing those nutrients. Nowadays I consistently see a hematologist who checks for these things, and I can have iron infusions done to fix low iron levels.
  
  A couple of years ago, my results were so low that the lab tech called my doctor saying it was dangerously low, who then called me at 8PM in the day saying that I needed to drop what I was doing and go straight to the ER for an emergency blood transfusion. One of the jobs of iron to my understanding is to be a binder for oxygen so that it can be carried throughout your body - if it gets too low, you risk your organs basically not getting enough.
  
  Then last year we found out my testosterone levels were practically that of an 80 year old man - I'm in my late 20s... So I had to start TRT, and everyone hoped that would be the magical fix - sadly, it wasn't (though it still needed to be addressed anyways). That however comes with its own issues.
  
  Now they want me to get a sleep study done because their next idea is that I might just never (or very rarely) be entering REM sleep - if you don't enter REM sleep, then you're pretty much not actually sleeping (an 8 hour sleep without REM is practically just an 8 hour "power nap"). But even if that were the case, and we got it fixed, there's still no guarantees that there isn't some other issue that is triggering the fatigue.
  
  As to my gut feeling, I know there is certainly an answer - I just don't know what the answer is. But there is absolutely zero chance that the majority of the humans on this planet can go about their lives and actually be awake with enough energy to do "normal things" such as work an 8 hour day, and that I'm somehow that unique to just be missing some vital gene or such, especially when I used to be among those people. I haven't even hit my thirties yet!
  
  Somewhere along the way, something went critically wrong and I lost that "ability", but as to what that "something" is I unfortunately just don't know because after all these years I've exhausted the list of things I think it could be based off my limited medical knowledge (I of course never went to medical school, but living with an autoimmune disease since before you even started puberty you do at least learn a little bit).
  
  I guess the other tangential fear I have is that I'll spend the rest of my "good years" trying to figure this out, and that eventually the doctors will just blame it on old age. Time only flows in one direction, once March 16th 2025 has come and gone, it'll never swing by again - there's no do-over if they just don't find the answer in time.

That I'll die before my kids are adults and I won't be there to prepare them for the world.

Getting hung from a tree in a gate crime

I'm terrified that I smell bad and nobody is telling me.

Finding one of my children dead, it has happened once already.

Thanks for sharing this. Losing a child is so devastating people become pariah, but you're showing people it happens and people get through it. I'm sorry your child passed, they should still be here today
- Work was very supportive of me during that time, excluding my direct supervisor, who nearly ended up being fired over it. I had support from friends that helped as well.
  
  But it being a suicide added so much more taboo to it. His birth giving parent (is a trans man) was raised very religious and had a hard time telling people it was a suicide, so I kept it quiet. Eventually they announced the suicide and me being able to talk about it in that sense really helped me a lot.
I'm so sorry! It happened to two friends of mine and they were absolutely destroyed, stay strong!
- It was 11 1/2 years ago, he would be 29 years this year.
You're a good parent.

Unlike my parents who are just shitty and would feel relieved if I kms right now.
- At least your parents like metric! That’s gotta count!
  
  But seriously, no license is needed to become a parent, one of the greatest responsibilities IMO. Maybe they don’t actually hate you, and just don’t know to parent good. If they hated your guts, why would they (badly?) raise you instead of giving you in adoption the moment you were born?

Putin and Trump.

What's it's like to be scared of things so far removed? Do you understand fear is a tactic very very often used by those in power?

Do not have fear

The MAGAstapo breaks down my door at 2 AM

Thalassophobia, aka fear of deep water. No problem being in a boat, but swimming in it is a no-go. I can swim in swimming pools, but the larger the body of water (ponds, lakes, ocean, etc) the larger the fear. I think it has something to do with not being able to see through the depth of the water? Strangely enough, the idea of being in space doesn't bother me at all.

I also tried Subnautica (based on recommendations) like a dumbass, played it for 20 minutes and had a panic attack. Uninstalled!

I can’t look at super close up pictures of insects, like where you can see all the little hairs and shit. Sends shivers down my spine. The worst part is I had to dissect a giant grasshopper in high school anatomy. God I still remember having to rip its mandibles out of its face. Gahh shiver The cat was much more manageable later on in the year lol

That while I'm driving I'll have to sneeze while driving across a bridge and during that split second while my eyes are closed and I'm distracted by the sneeze I'm going to drive off the edge.

That is wonderfully specific!

Waking up to find my partner dead. I used to leave for work while she was still deeply asleep so every morning before I kissed her goodbye I would have that moment of terror that when my lips touch her she would be cold.

Saws. The sound they're making shakes me to my core and having to help someone who almost amputated their finger enforced that fear further

All saws, or just power saws? Do you have a similar reaction to all kinds of saws, or just specific ones? Table saws, band saws... How about chainsaws?
- Pretty much any variation of power saw. The closer your hands are to the moving saw, the worse. Hand saws are cool tho. Love my Ryoba

I dont want to hold babies. I have a fear that I will drop it and I am not sure what I would say to the parents. Im not sure what is going to happen when I have kids

Im not sure what is going to happen when I have kids

For me, it went like this:

I'm afraid I'll drop or hurt this tiny helpless child.

But this tiny helpless child can't even go drink milk by itself.

I guess I can only make things better helping it get milk. I'll just be really careful.

That wasn't so bad. I guess I can do this.

Then repeat in stages every 15 minutes or so as it needs diapers, or cuddles to warm up, or cleaned, or milk again, or diapers again.

Until eventually I'm confidently picking it up in a moment of complete terror so that it won't run out into traffic.
- This does make me feel better. My wife keeps saying I need to hold babies to get over it (I suppose similar to your experience, hold it and realize it ain’t that bad). We’ll see how it goes. I don’t plan on having kids until I finish grad school though so I do have some time to prepare myself to face my fear: baby droppin. Thank you kind stranger for the words of wisdom

I’ve tried to live a good life, and tried to be a good influence around me. My secret fear is suddenly dying in public, and farting like some corpses.

I want to be remembered as a good coworker or friend, etc., not as the guy who farted loudly after dying.

I have a fear of being wrongly accused/arrested for something horrific, like murder, and then when I'm taken in for questioning I do what you're supposed to and refuse to speak and ask for a layer, but that just makes everyone suspect me more and I end up in prison.

Being helpless in a situation I had already thought about but never had the opportunity to prepare for.

My family finding out about my fictional crushes, showing that I've got a superbly weird taste in fictional men.

Turn that into your armour. I threaten my friends and family with my search history so they'll never be tempted to snoop.

Whenever I have to go into the city (I live in a small town) I have to take a short ferry to get there. Whenever it lists like 4-6 degrees, it scares me so bad.

Fear of ending up in Guantanamo and getting tortured. (I'm American)

I can’t look at super close up pictures of insects, like where you can see all the little hairs and shit. Sends shivers down my spine. The worst part is I had to dissect a giant grasshopper in high school anatomy. God I still remember having to rip its mandibles out of its face. Gahh shiver. The cat was much more manageable later on in the year lol

Never being able to get out from my family's thumb. Dying misirable, bitter, and angry at the world because my whole life was squandered. Realizing my one chance to have avoided all this passed thirty years ago and even then it was at best a half-chance.

I'm afraid the world will end and I'll be a dick without my SSRIs or coffee

I fear that, one day, the wrong people are going to find out I cheated on my finals in order to graduate, which does have consequences.

Hah!

I chose a BA in computer science because it indicated that I'd satisfied the requirements for both - it was literally my choice; I'd done all of the stuff for a BS plus a enough for a minor in a BA. Stupid me thought people would understand that a BA in CS meant you went beyond.

No. No, hiring managers think a BA in CIS is some weaker, non-technical, non-STEM kind of computer thing, like a degree in computer art or something.

So I've been lying my whole life; when asked, I say I have a BS in CIS. I wouldn't say I'm ever exactly worried about being caught out, because it's easily explainable, but it has crossed my mind occasionally, when filling out applications.

The flesh eating disease. It's everywhere and you can get it from a minor cut.