YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I am afraid of the inevitable future house fire that will kill my pets and destroy my life. Why yes, I HAVE always been hyper alert for any whiff of real or imagined smoke, or the sound of crackling.

I'm afraid of locked-in syndrome. Sleep paralysis is bad enough when it only lasts minutes.

I'm afraid of showers. My phobia is of stray hairs or dirt in the tub. Because our tub drain is clogged and our house too messy to get it fixed, I shower about four times a year - when I'm staying in a hotel or at someone else's house (IF they have an immaculately cleaned shower).

I'm afraid that I'm terrible at my job even though I rarely make mistakes. I'm feel like I only know HOW to do things, but not why.

I'm afraid my sister will die of a drug overdose and I won't get to say goodbye.

I'm afraid that my niece will take after my sister.

I'm afraid that I'll get cancer or diabetes or some other life threatening disease, and I won't have enough Will To Live to fight for my life.

I'm afraid I will regret never having children.

I'm afraid that my cats will die alone and scared and in pain (probably in a house fire! ).

I'm afraid that someone will choke or have a medical emergency and I will dissociate instead of helping them.

I'm afraid that I'm not as unique as I think I am.

I'm afraid that I'll never figure out if I'm actually an alcoholic/addict.

I'm afraid that I will always feel fat and ugly and disgusting.

I'm afraid that I will never learn how to keep on top of housework and bills, and that I will never do normal human things, like sending holiday cards and thank you notes.

I'm afraid I will never want sex again. I'm afraid that even if my libido comes back, I won't feel attractive enough or be clean enough to enjoy it. I'm afraid that my boyfriend will leave me because of this.

I'm afraid that I'm honestly just not a good person.

I'm afraid of ghosts.

I'm afraid that someone will choke or have a medical emergency and I will dissociate instead of helping them.

I can sooo relate to this. Oh, and I'm afraid that there will be a fire and I'll be too afraid to mess up using the fire extinguisher that everything will burn down.

Cheldoll wrote:I can sooo relate to this. Oh, and I'm afraid that there will be a fire and I'll be too afraid to mess up using the fire extinguisher that everything will burn down.

Totally. It's really cool how involved you are on the forum and responding to people. I hope I can make it down to Portland next month!

I hope you can make it too! I love connecting with people here, so I'm really excited to potentially hang out with some in person

I'm afraid that someone will recognize who I am from posts I've made on here, especially because I've used this username and avatar photo on other sites. Also the photo is 20 years old! Hahahahhah.

I'm afraid that people won't want to meet up with me in Portland because of some fears I listed above.