Freaking Out

You know what?
There are a LOT of phobias out there. A lot of weird phobias.

I know this because I looked it up online to find the name (well, one of) of my phobia.
I find it kind of hard to believe some people actually have a phobia about some of these things. Slight aversion, maybe, but absolute fear to the point of dysfunction? That is how I define a phobia. It goes beyond simple fear. And that is why It is kind of hard to believe some people actually have these.


For instance, there's somniphobia, which is the fear of falling asleep and sleeping.

Really? I mean, I get the idea of Achluophobia - Fear of darkness,

but, to actually be terrified of sleep?

I mean, unless you have Freddy Kreuger getting you when you fall asleep, I don't see how this could be.
Then there's such phobias as: Anthrophobia - Fear of flowers.

Aahh! They're gonna eat me!

Arithmophobia - Fear of numbers.

We're COUNTING on youuuu!

Bibliophobia - Fear of books.

"Scary Stories"

Ephebiphobia - Fear of teenagers.

Admittedly, teens are a bit scary...

Catoptrophobia - Fear of mirrors.

Funhouse mirrors?

Infinite mirrors?

Dendrophobia - Fear of trees.

Mageirocophobia - Fear of cooking. Not of fire or knives, just cooking...?

They're right. That's just terrifying....

Then there's Phobophobia - Fear of phobias. If you have this, this is the wrong blog to read, I guess. Are you laughing, or is it just me?


But not all phobias are weird, or a laughing matter at all. There are some very common ones, that seem to affect quite a few people like, Claustrophobia, the fear of really tight or enclosed spaces.
Arachnophobia- fear of spiders.

Or Coulrophobia - Fear of clowns.

I have lots of friends that are afflicted with that one.

Glossophobia - Fear of speaking in public.

A lot of people deal with that, even me, although its just a little butterflies, that I get over by doing it a lot.

I have a few. I don't know what the name of it is, but I am really upset and even dysfunctional when glass shatters near or on me. From past experiences. Not fear of getting cut by the broken glass, but when large panes of glass shatter with that loud noise, something inside me shuts down for a few.
I also have Dentophobia - Fear of dentists.

This is why I have a lot of cavities right now.
I suffer from a slight claustrophobia, but I have that more under control, just keep telling myself that I am okay. I am really, really afraid of heights - acrophobia. I shake just thinking about cliff-climbing and things like that.
But my "biggest" fear, the reason I did this research, is Agoraphobia.

The reason I say biggest is because this is the fear of big, wide, open spaces.
Like the open ocean.

Or Kansas.

Places where you see nothing for miles. You can keep going, or keep looking for a LONG way and there is no civilization in sight. It can actually be characterized as: "experiencing anxiety about places or situations where escape may be difficult and may suffer panic-attacks, being afraid of being outside of the home, traveling in a car, being on a bridge, or being in crowds". Now those things listed don't bother me. But I cannot fathom being stuck out to sea, with no way to get back.  This is why I don't like the idea of SPACE.

Can you even imagine being out there in the vast nothingness? Do you know how BIG space is? It's immense. It's enormous! It's almost eternal. Like the energizer bunny, it just keeps going and going and going and...
you get my drift.  It's huge. This is why I was kind of nervous about the next unit study.
You guessed it: Space. (Huge sigh). I just gotta teach my kids what they want to learn about. No matter how I feel about it.

So say a prayer for me as I embark on the final frontier, and just hope I don't go where no one has gone before...
And, may my kids, because I love them enough to suffer through this for them, live long, and

Prosper...