MetaChat - What is your biggest fear?

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14 March 2007

What is your biggest fear? →[More:] Or something you just fear, if you don't have one at the top of your list.

I fear not living my life to the fullest, and realizing it at an old age, unable to do anything to change it.

Here are some responses I've gotten from friends, to break the ice/warm you up.

"My biggest fear is that my philosophy on life is entirely untrue and I will be a victim of society." - Rafay

"Outrageously large knives." - Jordan

"Death." - Cara

"Dying. Not me, in particular, but like, family and stuff." - Tom

"Being buried alive." - Mat

"Falling down after buying alot of food at a fast food place, scattering my food to the floor and thus humiliating me." - Spencer

"Windmills." - Lauren

"Chemically altered bats." - Steve

post by: CitrusFreak12 at: 00:39 | 34 comments

My greatest fear is that I will drop dead in my apartment one night, and that no-one will notice that I am gone.

And then, two or three or maybe four weeks later, my cat will start eating my face.

Is that morbid?

posted by dersins 14 March | 00:42

Heights. Cancer. Inability to change. Inability to love. Being incompetent.

posted by occhiblu 14 March | 00:42

Spiders and heights. So, a big brown recluse at the top of a ladder... that'd be the end of me.

posted by bmarkey 14 March | 00:50

Fire.

posted by mullacc 14 March | 00:54

For 26 years it was losing one of my children. I've now done that. Dying in absolute obscurity to never be mourned or in some violent or ugly way seems minor as does about anything else I can conceive of.

posted by arse_hat 14 March | 00:54

When I was a kid, I had a horrible fear of being stuck in a public restroom stall. That one has mostly abated, because now I carry a Swiss Army Knife on my keychain.

I'm also terrified of running into snakes in every-day situations. Or even outlandish situations. Despite the Swiss Army Knife. Doesn't matter. Fear snakes.

On preview: I am not, thankfully, afraid of spiders. I do fear, however, that the mosquito bites I got on my thigh two weeks ago are actually spider bites, because they haven't gone away and they are starting to turn an ugly color. I also fear doctors, so I'm waiting for actual big, black necrosis. I fear this too.

I also fear that since I eat alone on the couch for 98% of my meals, I'll choke and die while laughing at Jon Stewart. Alone. Except for Jon Stewart. Who hates me.

posted by mudpuppie 14 March | 00:56

No, pup, John loves you. Spiders, on the other hand... you really might wanna get those bites checked out. No fooling.

posted by bmarkey 14 March | 00:59

... I also fear a shortage of ellipses...

posted by bmarkey 14 March | 01:00

I'm scared of life, actually. I know that's kind of weird, but it's true. Success, failure, the future, the past, everything.

And heights. I'm literally physically paralyzed by anything more than 2 stories in height.

posted by puke & cry 14 March | 01:02

I imagine 'fear of life' could be drawn out to a term that fits it more accurately though. Just draw out everything to do with the emotional states of life and I'm pretty afraid of it. Anything dealing with change, future or past.

posted by puke & cry 14 March | 01:10

Fyi, me in 15 years.

posted by dersins 14 March | 01:54

I'm with mullacc.

posted by paulsc 14 March | 01:56

"I fear not living my life to the fullest, and realizing it at an old age, unable to do anything to change it."

People do what they want to. To die with regrets means you died a sad wanker or a sad liar.

posted by arse_hat 14 March | 02:05

Right now, what I fear most is responsibility. For now, I can avoid it for the most part, but I cannot keep this up forever.

posted by wendell 14 March | 02:58

I fear living alone and lonely. But I do nothing to help myself by isolating.

posted by essexjan 14 March | 03:39

Something happening to my children.

posted by LoriFLA 14 March | 05:57

That people on the Internet will learn my greatest fear and be able to use it against me.

posted by Eideteker 14 March | 06:09

My kid is about to be an adult in a few months so yea, I mostly worry about what will happen to him.

posted by octothorpe 14 March | 06:21

Not living up to my potential, whatever that is.

posted by hadjiboy 14 March | 06:32

Getting my head stuck places. Like between bars on a porch rail, or in a cookie jar, or in a herculean headlock I can't break.

Just thinking about it turns my shit white.

posted by Hugh Janus 14 March | 07:49

My husband dying.

posted by gaspode 14 March | 07:57

jellyfish.

no seriously, they freak me the fuck out.

all the rest (death, my own insecurities, not living up to my 'potential' whateverthatmaybe) i've pretty much faced and dealt with. i don't have kids, nor will i, so i wouldn't begin to know what those fears are all about.

as far as something like dersins linked to... well that kind of thing is really only horrible for the survivors. funerals and all that elaborate stuff are ceremonies for the living. once i die, i ain't gonna have much opinion what happens to the hunk of leftover meat i inhabited.

posted by lonefrontranger 14 March | 08:28

Apart from something dreadful happening to my son, probably the only thing I fear is losing my mind slowly while being unaware that it's occurring.

posted by PaxDigita 14 March | 08:48

I fear the potentially bad treatment my daughter might get from peers and society.

I fear I am dying by degrees.

posted by plinth 14 March | 08:50

I had nightmares all night and apparently my greatest fear is to be chased down the street near the laundromat by a guy with a gun while I am naked - although until last night, I could not have told you that. Other than that I fear commitment and responsibility and dying alone (actually, dying, period) and, like mudpuppie, I worry that I'll choke to death alone. I also worry that I'll get horrible skin cancer on my back and not find out until it's way too late because noone ever sees my back. Also, vampires and killer attack robots - hate them. But I actually like spiders and snakes and that probably is what it takes to love me.

The kids, of course, but I can't even think about that. *hugs arse_hat fiercely with love for a long, long time*

posted by mygothlaundry 14 March | 08:55

Thanks for sharing, everybody. The answers to questions like these always interest me. I don't know why. I guess it's comforting to see that you're not the only one who worries about things, regardless of how silly they might be, or perhaps because it offers a perspective on life aside from your own.

People do what they want to. To die with regrets means you died a sad wanker or a sad liar.

I want to live life on my own terms, and I fear not doing so for whatever reason. I fear leaving without having made a positive impression on the world. It's not so much about being remembered for what I've done, but knowing that I've contributed to the betterment of the world in some way or another. Not to say that you're incorrect, though.

But hopefully it will be a long time before this concern of mine ever becomes something to worry about. Until then, carpe diem all that jazz.

::big ol' man-hug for arse_hat::

posted by CitrusFreak12 14 March | 09:47

Oh, choking! I'm terrified of choking to death in a restaurant or something, surrounded by people who can't do anything and the last thing I ever see is them freaking out. Also, it would just feel so stupid.

posted by gaspode 14 March | 10:12

what LoriFLA and arse_hat said. My kids.

Other than that I have a gazillion of little silly or larger serious fears (or neuroses): my belly button, flying, forgetting to cook kids meal, not having time to read a book or go see a movie ever again, something bad happening to people I care about, even to people I do not care about, because frankly I am very weak emotionally and I cannot deal with pain anywhere around me, him getting married, as if it is not enough he is dating a woman 20 years younger, going back to Greece.

posted by carmina 14 March | 10:45

Oh god, Hugh. I'm not even claustrophobic or particularly weird about my head, but I had a yoga teacher a few weeks ago who was trying to get us to do headstands between two folding chairs, such that our shoulders were resting on the chairs, our bodies and legs were straight up in the air, and our heads were hanging down between two folding chairs that were only a few inches apart.

She tried to get me set up into the pose and I just stopped and said, "No. Just... no." Ugh.

posted by occhiblu 14 March | 11:13

Which reminds me of my current biggest fear, handstands. Which is odd, I know, but I used to be able to do them (against a wall) in yoga class, but for the last year, I try to kick up, I freak out, and half the time I end up teary and with my heart racing unpleasantly. I fear doing the handstands, and I fear never being able to do them again. Stupid handstands.

posted by occhiblu 14 March | 11:16

- the mister dying or leaving in some other way
- choking on food while alone
- falling
- fire
- life

posted by deborah 14 March | 12:36

"I fear not living my life to the fullest, and realizing it at an old age, unable to do anything to change it."

At the funeral for my friend the other day, the pastor who conducted the service (our own "Father Phil" from Racers for Christ) made the point that, while it could be said that Geoff died too early, he had filled the time he had with several lifetimes. I would be happy for someone to say that to me at my funeral. My fear is that this will not be the case and that I will find myself an old man, regretting the things I didn't do because I was scared of regretting having done them.

posted by dg 14 March | 18:31

I'm scared of:

*Things happening to my kids
*My kids somehow ruining their lives
*Becoming my father-in-law..extremely fragile, stubborn, losing reality, and becoming unable to care for himself
*being forgotten

posted by redvixen 14 March | 18:56

CitrusFreak, until today I didn't realize how similar you and I think, sorry.
I love these types of questions too, and when you posted it, I thought--hey, who here thinks like I do:)

(I'm supposed to be doing my assignment work for class, but couldn't resist squeezing in a reply here.)

posted by hadjiboy 14 March | 23:02

← So, there are these two muffins... || Big brassy Betty Hutton dead at 86. →

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