Recently I have been reading about all these memes traveling around blogosphere: tell me the last 3 books you read, the three most listened songs on your iTune, etc. I’ve never received an invitation to share my last readings or favorite music, which I am grateful for. I am not quite ready to share them with the world.
But thinking about another recent and fierce debate started by Jay Rosen’s comment on the “expression of terror” and “raw fears” he heard at the Blogher conference, I thought about something less personal to share.
So, here is my first meme. What scares you? What are your rational or irrational fears that keep you up awake at night?
Here are mine:
- Driving on highways
- Losing my health insurance
- Be deported by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Flying
- Losing the people I love
So, what are your fears? Scott, Eddie, Funkygrl, Andrew, Joy, Nancy, Erik, anybody?
August 27, 2005
hmmmm. That’s a pretty personal question! I’d rather answer the 3 most recent books I’ve read!
Here’s a filtered list of my fears:
What scares me:
1) Not getting the best deal (which probably means I’m afraid of being poor)
2) Swimming in the ocean (which I do, but I’m afraid of the lack of control I have over the situation)
3) Never finding romantic love again (which is foolish, but I still have this fear)
4) That people will discover that I know less than I pretend to know (which is basically insecurity)
5) That I’m wasting my life (which just means that I’m realizing that my life is going by rapidly. Have I used it well and does it even matter?)
August 28, 2005
1) Failing my children (even in retrospect)
2) The world political situation, particularly here in the US
3) Certain driving conditions (artifact of past accident)
4) heights of certain types
5) Lack of chocolate
August 28, 2005
1) Anything bad happen to my family…sickness/disease, injury,
accident, etc.
2) My husband or I losing our health
3) Not having the proper Health Insurance coverage
4) Depression of any kind
5) Not being able to pay the bills
6) Driving somewhere and getting lost (don’t like highways either
Antonella)
* I’m not really afraid of flying, but I’m not fond of it either. I do it only when I have to. I’m more nervous when my kids fly than when I fly.
August 30, 2005
1. Failing, even if no one tells me the real rules
2. Not having anybody to take care of
3. My son – missing or ill (I am afraid to even type this)
September 7, 2005
Sorry I’m so slow getting to this — been a busy week or so.
I’d say my greatest fear is that something might happen to my child.
Related: that the geographical distance I have from her now (and events of the last couple of years) is hurting her in some way, or horribly detrimental to my relationship with her.
Other than those? That I’ll get to the end of my life and realize I made even bigger mistakes than the ones I’m already aware of. That the things I keep telling myself I’m going to do, I wait too late until a time when I’m too sick or old or something to do them. That I’ll fail and people won’t tell me I’m failing until it’s too late. I guess “too late” would be the phrase that encapsulates my fears?
My daily garden-variety fears are mainly around all the things I do during the day that I wonder if I did them wrong, made the wrong decision, offended someone unintentionally, etc. I often find I don’t quite know how to behave or communicate in a way that conveys my real intentions.
I fear that I may never really understand or be able to give myself over to “love” in any kind of domestic relationship. (I love my daughter utterly — it eats everything else.)
September 20, 2005
1. Being alone in my old age
2. Loved ones suffering in ways I can’t help
3. Running over a child who appears out of nowhere in front of my car on the highway (a recurring nightmare)
4. Not having enough money to live on