What do you fear the most?

[TOhioLiberal]

I'll start:

I'm afraid I'll get up some day and find my friend (L, the one with cancer) dead in her bed. Oh yeah, that's good for a decade's worth of therapy, I think. :scared::cry:

[crim son]

1. Is that likely to happen, TOhioLiberal?

Me, I fear getting old and being lonely more than anything.

[TOhioLiberal]

4. It's very likely...

She's terminal. :cry:

I fear for Elizabeth Edwards, too. :cry: Not that's she is as bad off as L is, but I know what can happen. :(

[crim son]

6. Then you must prepare yourself.

I wish there were something I could do to help. My life is easy by comparison. :hug: :hug: :hug:

[WindRavenX]

2. Having my SO die

I can't live without him.

Or getting cancer.

[TOhioLiberal]

7. That would be tough...

...:hug:

[fudge stripe cookays]

58. You nailed my two biggies.

reprehensor is the most incredible human being I've ever met. I couldn't imagine being without him.

And i saw my my father die of cancer. I had a scare in 2005 with my girlie parts...they mentioned the word and all I heard after that was a buzzing sound as I zoned out, thinking "I'm only 37."

Thank goodness it was not the big C.

fsc

[SPKrazy]

3. I fear something happening to my son...

something bad that is

[TOhioLiberal]

9. I know what you mean...

...when the boys were little I worried about them a lot. Now that they're adults I still worry, but it's a different kind of worry. :shrug::hug:

[Shell Beau]

57. I saw my mom get the news that my brother died. There is nothing

like a parent's love for their child!! Nothing!

[helderheid]

5. I fear for my children's safety, and I fear death for my family and myself.

[TOhioLiberal]

10. I understand that...

...for a while after my mom passed away in 2004, I would get panic attacks whenever I thought about not being here.

[Left Is Write]

8. I'm actually too afraid of what I fear the most to even write it out.

Here are some :hug: :hug: for you. I know your friend's illness has been very hard for you.

[TOhioLiberal]

11. It must be pretty bad then...

...do you think about it a lot? I try not to think about it, but it's like a cloud hanging over my head.

[Left Is Write]

12. No, I don't, but it turns up in my dreams more often than I'd like.

My major fears are largely irrational, though, and your fear is not.

[wildhorses]

13. i fear that my weakness

is also my strength

for you :hug:

and

for your friend :hug:

[TOhioLiberal]

16. Thanks Wild...

:hug::pals:

[fizzgig]

14. failure

and that i haven't made a single good decision with my life. i am terrified that i will wake up one morning and realize that i wasted my life.

and many :hug: to you and your friend. she should count herself lucky that she's got someone who loves her as much as you do

[TOhioLiberal]

18. Thanks kagehime...

...I'm the lucky one. She's been a good friend (despite the strangeness of the beginning of our friendship) for over 20 years. I will miss her very much. :hug:

[CC]

15. My worse fear has already happened

so figure there isn't much else out there to fear.

Sorry to hear about your friend. I have been there all the way to finding my father in law dead in bed. By then it was a blessing for him so somehow I handled it. We also had hospice and they helped so much before hand and after. I hope your friend is not that bad but being there is the best gift you can give her and yourself. :hug: and sending positive thoughts your way.

[TOhioLiberal]

20. We're calling hospice in...

...it should relieve some of the pressure on the family. :hug: Thanks.

[CC]

28. The hospice here was

wonderful and helped with so many little things along with all the big things. They also make the end of life stuff easier to understand and handle. I am sorry to hear that she qualifies for hospice but please take advantage of all they offer and they are there for friends too, not just family. It will help relieve the pressure and give comfort to all. As hard as it is, being there really is a gift to all involved. Just remember, the love never dies or goes away and eventually you are able to smile through the tears.
My FIL would not let me help him go to the bathroom or give him a sponge bath. The hospice people helped him with how to let me help him potty without me "seeing" anything. They also sent someone in to give him baths. I was giving him his meds and putting pain patches on his derriere but no way was he letting me see anything else including him with out a shirt on. The man had his modesty and nothing was getting in the way of that. My DH still laughs about that since it was so Poppy and it has become a good memory even with the sadness that goes with it.
You will be surprised at what sticks with you but I always believed that those we love help us along, even after they are gone.

[BarenakedLady]

17. Something bad happening to my children.

I think anything else I could handle.

[TOhioLiberal]

21. I understand...

...:hug:

[graywarrior]

19. I fear what I'm going to do to SPK.

[TOhioLiberal]

22. Does he still have your duck?

:)

[graywarrior]

23. He's outta control.

[SPKrazy]

48. Damn!

How the hell did I miss this

what ya gonna do to spk?

:rofl:

[helderheid]

24. I'm so sorry about your friend

:hug:

[TOhioLiberal]

25. Thanks helderheid...

...it sucks but we're dealing with it. :hug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

26. Panic attacks (n/t)

[zanne]

31. I'm with you there.

There's nothing worse.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

27. I'm very sorry to hear about your friend TOhioLiberal

My thoughts, prayers, best wishes and positive vibes to you both and also to L's friends and family:hug:

My worst fears are irrational. I have a perpetual fear of home invasion that at times is so paralyzing that it prevents me from answering the door and ensures that I keep on guard for strange noises and the like even when someone else is in the house

I have a perpetual fear of being trapped in a car underwater -again I always fear the worst when I'm in a car and we're passing by a river

[Control-Z]

29. I guess my worst fear

is for my children - I just could not handle losing one of them.

But I also worry about how they will handle losing me, someday. I never want to be the reason for my children's sadness. I can only hope that day doesn't come until years from now when they are old enough and wise enough to understand and accept it without too much pain.

I'm very sorry about your friend L. :hug: :hug: :hug:
She is probably as frightened as you. I'm sure she is grateful to have you near.

[BlueIris]

30. Negligent healthcare providers.

I've known my share. They ruin lives. I'd like to avoid them in the future, but I don't know if I'll be that lucky/moneyed.

[dropkickpa]

32. Something happening to Dropkid

I would not be able to go on if something happened to her.

[lizziegrace]

33. That I'll give up

:(

[Chan790]

34. Martians.

Actually, kinda yes. Martians.

I think most fears are really fears of the unknown. Nothing is more alien and unknown than Martians...except maybe Plutonians.

I couldn't avoid the alien...Martians pun. I really did try.

[Roon]

35. I share a duplex with my elderly Grandparents

and I am so worried that I am going to get the "call". I don't know what I am going to do. I also have a very elderly kitty and I worry about when she takes her trip over the rainbow bridge.

[Mad_Dem_X]

36. Death.

What else is there to be afraid of?

[pokerfan]

43. Bears

:)

[ThomCat]

37. Living too long

and ending up in a nursing home.

[u4ic]

38. Being completely incapacitated

by illness, or some sort of accident.

Been there, done that with the former. If it ever happens again, just shoot me. And I'm not kidding.

[guitar man]

39. tyranny

...and something happening to my daughter, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to my baby girl.

Tyranny happening to my baby girl isn't a pleasant thought either :(

[Karenina]

40. Nothing.

Fear is not worth the energy it sucks.

[otherlander]

41. The possibility that there aren't any aliens.

Okay, they wouldn't be aliens if they were on their own planet, but I mean, intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Look at a picture of the galaxy. It's huge, and the stars look so small, and the sun is much smaller than some of them, and the earth is a speck that was spun off from the sun. And even the galaxies, those are spread so thin across the void, a pocket of gas here and there; but for the most part the universe is a void.

The life of our sun compared to the life of the galaxy is short. The earth goes around it, some carbon mutates, becomes life, and moves up onto the dry patches to create civilization. The sun goes out, the pebbles spinning around it go cold, and the galaxy goes on unchanged. That doesn't bother me in itself, because all civilizations fall eventually, but if there aren't any aliens, all the love in the universe will have been nothing but a brief irregularity on a pebble.

[Ptah]

42. A repeat of this headline concerning my son

A Tucson teenager has pleaded guilty

: :

[Random_Australian]

44. I've already lived it; aside from my life I've nothing bigger to lose.

Though from seeing me, you'd never guess it! Not that that is a good thing. :(

[Qanisqineq]

45. I didn't know it was my worst fear

until it happened recently. Now nothing else seems all that bad or scary. I didn't fear it before because I never thought it would happen.

[hippiechick]

46. ... having anything bad/ traumatic happen to HippieKid ...

I don't care what happens to me, but seeing my child in pain of any kind would take me to a place mentally that I couldn't explain.

[SPKrazy]

49. Me too Hippiechick!

that's my biggest fear in the world...

but can't let that hinder going about with life, right?

It's just scary because I know plenty of people who have had something bad happen to their kid(s)

:hug:


:hi:

[treestar]

47. Anything bad happening to my precious nephews and niece

[Redstone]

50. Unfortunately, I have what a psychiatrist once called a "pathological lack of fear."

And he was right. That has NOT been good for me.

Redstone

[Shell Beau]

51. No lie, even though I know where I am going when I die, I fear death.

Mostly because I know that my loved ones will be depressed. I've been through losing a close loved one (as we all probably have) and it kills ones soul. I don't want to ever put anyone through that!

[LSK]

52. Flying

will never do it.

Being broke comes 2nd.

[Shell Beau]

56. Aw, you can't let that control your life! So many things out there need

to be seen and you can only do that by flying! I hate to fly also, but I will not let it control me!! I would have missed Mexico, D.C., and New York if I had let it get to me!

[LSK]

62. dont worry, ive driven cross country many times

[CaliforniaPeggy]

53. What do I fear the most?

Death....

Coming for my close friend before me.........

And I fear for my own death, since I have no religious faith to sustain me...

[Horse with no Name]

54. I fear that my family will need me

and I won't be there.
Not necessarily about dying...but if something happened to them and they needed me (tornado, fire, etc).

[Horse with no Name]

55. I used to have a really good resource, but I have lost it

However, a cursory glance at this one looks pretty good.
The important thing is to prepare yourself and your friend.
http://www.growthhouse.org/
:hug:

[usaftmo]

59. I see right-wing morans...

they're everywhere!
:hide:

[grannylib]

60. Losing another child or one of my grandchildren. And spiders. Ish.

[Jamastiene]

61. Nature's awesome power.

There is really nothing we can do to avoid being the random victim of bad bad weather. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, it's business as usual for Mother Nature. She's got some cleaning to do and Heaven help you if you get in the way of that. It's nothing personal, but still doesn't take the sting away when you have to deal with a life or death waiting period followed by repairs to any damage that was done, if you are lucky enough to have a house that survived well enough that you can repair it.

I especially fear strong winds, tornadoes, bad hurricanes, and for some reason, thunder. Yep, thunder, the part that won't even hurt you unless it's extremely loud, is the part I am afraid of in storms. I especially get a much too fast heartbeat and a sick feeling when the thunder is one of those extremely loud fast clapping booms out of nowhere. :scared:

Lightning fascinates me to no end though. Really bright, aren't I?

[femmocrat]

63. Alzheimers. It runs in our family.

Everytime I forget something, I'm afraid I'm getting it.

[SPKrazy]

64. Exercise... B Vitamins

and lower fat diet

otherwise there isn't really much you can do except hope and take care of yourself.

I work with Alzheimer's patients and there is a push to make some good headway for that.

Also, I read the other day that there may be a connection between cold sores (Herpes Simplex 1) and Alzheimer's. :shrug:
So maybe there will at least be a greater body of knowledge about prevention and treatment as we age.

The longer a person lives the greater their chances of getting it are, and in a person's 80's and 90's the odds are pretty good that one will get it.

It's always sad, but when it hits people in their 60's I think that is sadder because they are people who have worked and gotten to retirement age and then wham!

But the best prevention thought of right now is to practice the same principles one would for heart disease, including the B vitamin regime.

:pals:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

65. Change, and the lack thereof.........

I know I'm going to die, and I'm cool with that. But what I fear the most is stagnating.

When I was younger I had many world-changing experiences like excavating a 500,000 year-old site in the UK, living away from my home city and state in awesome places like New Orleans and Austin, meeting folks who were of wide open minds and of different nationalities, and doing things I couldn't wait to share with my friends. But now that I have gotten older, I find myself back in my home state (which I love, BTW), associating w/ the same old folks and beginning to feel my age - even though I'm not old.

I'm most afraid of dying where I am. My world used to be so much larger and now I feel stuck in a much smaller place.