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  • I fell from a four story scaffolding when I was about 25 back when I used to do stucco work. I was the scaffold bitch, and was up on a single 2x10, across two scaffold frames when a fork operator bumped the scaffold and I fell.

    My fault for not being clipped into fall protection, drunk operators fault for bumping the scaffolding. I’m the only one who had any repercussions, on top of a broken tibia. Six weeks in a cast.

    I developed a healthy fear of heights after that. To the point where I won’t stay in high rise buildings unless there are no windows. I can’t ride rolly coasters any more, will never fly again.

    • I surprisingly didn't develop a phobia of heights after falling from an even higher height than four stories, despite becoming permanently disabled because of it. Like I thought maybe I would, but I can look over the side of buildings from the roof just fine.

      Still scared of most theme park rides, though. I got that from when I was a toddler.

      • Just the thought of looking over the edge of something like a building elicits a fear response in me.

        Panic. Fear. Irrational, even.

        ETA - I’ve flat out told my employers - if you send me on anything beyond two floors to chase roof drains/vents (I’m a plumber) Iwill turn in my keys and shove off. This is something I am firmly non negotiable on and have quit over, in the past.

  • I love spiders, they're good for keeping pests away and can be so cute at times, but I'm also terrified of them

    • Yeh in abstract I think they’re crazy cool, they eat annoying stuff and looking at (small) ones in their web is amazing. Like what an insane trick of evolution, this thing that can make art with its ass to trap and brutally murder other bugs.

      But then I see a big scary one and it’s pure lizard brain time.

  • heights and needles. heavy on the second. i have multiple piercings and tattoos and i do an injection on myself weekly, and it has not gotten better and warrants the same level of panic every time.

  • Heights, can't even stand on a chair. The vertigo is so intense that it raises my chance of dying to heights because i completely lose any semblance of balance. Very counter intuitive fear.

    Next up is being vored

  • Spiders creep me out and I get SUPER anxious in high up places if I can see the ground.

    Know the Sears Tower in Chicago where they have the glass room you can step out of and see from the top floor to the ground? Yeah, instant panic attack.

    • I used to do rock climbing for fun and have climbed some pretty tall mountains but laying down on top of half dome in Yosemite and looking down its face freaked me out.

  • can't do spiders. I've gotten better to the point of tolerating house spiders, but any sort of media that shows close-ups of or actions of spiders will make me drop my phone or make me fall out of my chair.

  • I’ve got two. Swimming in the deep ocean more than a few feet from a boat, I can’t help but think of sea monsters and sharks coming from the murky depths. Second is getting my throat cut. Idk why it just seems like the most horrific way to go for me. I recall getting a haircut when I was about 19 where the barber used a straight razor to line my hair up and shave my facial hair, and that shit had me shaking on the way out from how nervous the blade against my neck got me.

68 comments