What are your anxieties?

Oh yeah I'm a germ freak too lol. It's funny because, most of the time, I don't mind animals slobbering on me or getting pee or poop or vomit on me. But if I touch a person? Feel like I have to dip my hand in bleach. Won't share a drink with anyone, running joke in this family is that if I were in the desert dying of thirst, I STILL wouldn't drink another persons water.

I suppose my biggest anxiety though is thinking that I'll never really accomplish anything or lead a happy life.

Money. I have a lot of financial anxiety, even though I'm pretty good with money. I am just constantly worrying about the "what-ifs".

Driving. When I first started driving, I was extremely anxious about it - I was the kid that was not excited to learn to drive. Now, I'm comfortable driving in normal conditions (snow still really bothers me), but I have issues riding in cars, I feel like I don't have enough control.

Being late. I have a major fear of being late to ANYTHING - work, class, appointments, whatever. Even just casual things with friends where 5-10 minutes late would be fine. I always give myself so much extra time that I often find myself doing a lot of waiting in my car once I get there.

I go through waves of animal-related anxiety, but that comes and goes. When people are over around the holidays, I have anxiety about the cat getting let out, someone feeding them chocolate, etc.

- Not being able to control a situation. Not like in a control freak way but when I picture it going one way, it should go that way and ONLY that way.

- Being late to ANYTHING.

- Car wrecks.

- Stranger people. I am a very cautious person when it comes to strangers and if one comes up behind me and starts talking, I go into WTF panic mode, ninja style.

- Getting the hiccups gets my anxiety going. I don't know why but it does.

- Not being able to fix something the first go around.

- I am an overachiever so when I set out to do something my OCD goes into high gear and if it isn't done exactly how I want it, I freak out. That kinda goes hand in hand with the control thing.

- Elevators. I will ride one but will be completely get uncomfortable and panicky.

- Not having anybody to talk to when I'm mad, upset, sad, hurt, etc. It freaks me out to know that I could be in one of those moods by myself for a long period of time.

Oh, I forgot drive thrus. I will ride through a drive thru, but I will not drive through one. I never have. They're scary.

Oooo I hate HATE running late for anything & I hate not having time to preform tasks, here the track opens at 7am, I get to the barn by 5am or a little later to feed, give them 30 min to eat then walk them so I can clean their stalls (I track with OH on my horse ... So I don't have time to clean "nights worth" stall. So I stick them on the walker for a few long enough to clean & whatever. I don't even wait for OH (all he has to do is ride ... So he gets to the barn at about 6:30am :/

Oh god if I listed mine I'd sound like a nutcase.

- Someone being mad at me/me not being good enough. I can't stand when people are mad at me or disappointed in me.

- Calling people or voicemail especially.

- Heights. I get vertigoish feelings when I'm up high. Which is bad because I work on the 37th floor. And I may be in the elevator lobby, which is totally closed in and get the feeling of falling. There is one particular spot on the third floor of our building that makes me panic every time I walk through there. It's glass windows to the ground on one side and then a drop on the other to the first floor in the rotunda. I always walk through there with friends and I CAN NOT look anywhere other than directly ahead eye level or I won't make it across there. I will freeze up. And it's like 6 feet wide at least with rails but still...

- Feet. Ick. Feet touching me in particular.

- I have a relentless worry that I forgot to close the garage door or turn off my straightener or something and the house will burn down/get broken into. I have a horribly long ritual every morning to make sure I don't forget them. Sometimes I have to come check 3 or 4 times.

- Balloons, guns, fireworks. Any loud noises. I can't stand them.

- Dog stuff. Mia's knees in particular.

- Dead things. Dead fish especially. Which is bad when you have fish tanks...

I used to be really bad to the point of having panic attacks where I couldn't breathe. It's much better now, particularly the people interactions and phone calling. I have to call people a lot at my job so that got me over that pretty fast. I still derp on the voicemails every now and then though.

I'm also afraid of being without my phone, I'm convinced if I am for a moment my family or the like will call with an emergency or death and I'll miss it.

Obsessively worried or just plain crazy is what Denis calls it.

I used to have a ton. Therapy has solved many of them, as has getting my life in order.

Money's still a big one. I'm not very financially stable and it causes MANY late-night hours-long panic attacks. Working on that one.

The big one is toilet water. Cant handle it. The house the OH lives at has plumbing issues, and the septic backed up last night, resulting in an inch of standing toilet water on the floor, and I couldn't stop shaking. It is my only true anxiety at this point - I got over a lot of the things that used to reduce me to a shaking mess, and that is the only one I still freak out over.

The last one I would not call an anxiety,but it drives me nuts. DO NOT TOUCH MY FACE AFTER TOUCHING YOUR PHONE OR COMPUTER! That is unacceptable behavior, and it is why I break out.

The other two I am uncomfortable with, but would not describe as an anxiety. Being in a room packed with strangers for longer than 20 minutes will set me off sometimes. We had a "dine with the redskins" event recently for the top sales and service people, and at 6'3" in heels I was still one of the shortest people there. That made me uncomfortable. It's one thing to be in a crowded room and see over people's heads, and another entirely to be unable to see over anyone's shoulder.

Also, try getting stung by a jellyfish while swimming in the ocean. Well, no, don't. It wasn't very fun. :lol-sign:

I'm slightly germophobic. (Did I spell this correctly?) I get really nervous when someone's hand is too close to my face, it takes a lot of courage to visit a hair salon because the hand of the hairdresser is always too close to my face.

It's 1pm ... My horse shoer isn't here, I might have to call him, my heart clinches at even the thought ... I hate calling someone I don't ever call, he's a friend, I should be freaking out about it but I do, why? Ill give him to 1:30 or so.

At 5'3" that's the story of my life. LOL. I can stand being in crowds as long as I can see a way of escape should I need to. But being in a crowded, indoor place...so crowded that you can't move about at all and all you see are men's belt buckles and the backs of people....that can bring on some anxiety for me. One time, years ago, I really had a panic attack. Other than that, not too much ruffles my feathers.

I don't hate calling people I don't know or most of the things mentioned. I mean, it's not fun to have to call the insurance agent or Comcast to come fix something, be put on hold forever etc, but I don't mind speaking to the other person. I don't know why...it just doesn't affect me as a big deal.

Germs...I've lived this long amongst germs. I'm reasonably careful but not overly concerned.

Being at a social gathering is an adventure to me. I like meeting new people. I'm a tad shy at first, but not terribly uncomfortable. Once I get to chit chatting or whatever, it turns out to be fun most of the time.

Oh, the thought of being late does make me nervous. I was raised to be prompt. My parents were so obsessed with being on time, that they wound up getting there early. lol. So, yeah...I'm almost always on time or early.

Flying... the thought of getting on an airplane is horrible. I never used to be afraid of flying. I flew all the time when I was younger. Now though... I hate it. But in my defense I have witnessed a plane crash. Not a passenger plane but a plane none the less. So yeah, flying gives me nightmares for weeks on end.

Open water. The movie open water is probably the most frightening movie ever lol. that scene where it's night time and everytime lightning flashes you just see them surrounded by shark fins... panic inducing. All my least favorite things... open water, in the DARK, sharks and a storm? terrifying. I do not mind being out on a boat but there is no WAY I am going in the water.

Oh yeah...flying. I forgot about flying. It's not that I'm afraid so much as it is that it causes me intense, excruciating...really over-the-top pain in my ears when descending. I dread flying and do it as little as possible.

That is the story of MY life ... The seeing over everyone's heads that is, being 5'10 barefoot any kind of shoe puts me head & shoulders over most other ppl especially at the horse track in a community of jockeys & excersise riders lol makes me feel like Gulliver sometimes