Worrying too much about unlikely events

[Joal 555]

I've always done this. As the old saying goes, if I had nothing to worry about, that would be.......a worry.

I mean it's natural to worry about things that affect you all the time such as your job or your health or relationship issues, but this thread is about wasting energy on events that are theoretically possible (and indeed will have happened to many people), but are pretty unlikely. 

I'll set the ball rolling with these two and hopefully others will chip in with their own examples.

• a bird flying into my flat through an open window (how would I get it out? and what damage/panic would it cause until it somehow found the window again?)
• dropping/losing my keys down a drain (I actually walk around drain covers to avoid this, even when I have a firm grip on my keys lol)

I've no doubt I have loads more examples so I may well return here from time to time.

[Rhomberg Rabbit]

6 hours ago, Joal 555 said:

 

• dropping/losing my keys down a drain (I actually walk around drain covers to avoid this, even when I have a firm grip on my keys lol)

My biggest fear 

[NoV]

Sometimes this is product over having an over-active imagination or just being the sort of person who needs to think through all possible scenarios. I can definitely empathise, as this is something I have had to deal with throughout my life. People often say I am not a 'yes' person, but this is just because I am usually thinking through all possible outcomes before I commit to yes or no. 

I used to have a weird irrational fear that I would forget how to breathe  

[SneezyHolmes]

I think it's human nature to worry about things that seem unlikely. Probably a leftover survival skill of some sort from our caveman days. Anywhoo, I too worry about dropping something into a storm drain and will hold whatever item I'm carrying off to the side when I walk over them. I also have a horribly irrational fear of plane crashes. I want to travel but fear the plane going down.

And while not really probable or having happened to anyone, I also fear a zombie apocalypse.  

[SterlingSilver]

BAAH, Joal, I'm right there with you. It's like my brain gets bored and is like, "...you know what would be really terrible?" and away we go LOL. I try to always think of every outcome in a situation to try and prepare for the worst, so I think that's where the habit comes from 

For me, I'm worried about getting severely injured by the gale-force suction of a pool drain. Also, getting stuck in a narrow cave tunnel while spelunking. Both of these come from reading horrifying news articles. But I don't regularly swim in pools and have never (and will never) go cave exploring, so I don't know why I worry hahaha

[Chanel_no5]

I too have a huge fear of dropping my keys into storm drains. To the point where I almost have this feeling that if I don't hold onto them for dear life, they might jump out of my hand on their own accord and into the drain.  

I'm not afraid of the dark, but in the winter when it's dark in the afternoon and I have to bring water to horsey's pasture (furthest away from the stables and right next to a big dark forest) I always feel like the moment I bend down to remove the ice, pour in fresh water and put on the isolating lid, a moose or a wolf might sneak up on me from behind and maul me. It's not THAT irrational since there are both moose and wolves in the woods around where I live, but moose usually don't attack unless you are posing a threat to them, and while there are some wolf attacks on sheep and dogs from time to time, they don't normally go for humans. And it IS still rather close to civilisation, so it seems like a very unlikely hunting ground either way. But. 

I'm always scared of making a mess or breaking things, my own and others alike. I'd rather stand up than sit on a rickety chair, I don't go inside gift shops where they have lots of porcelain or glass or other delicate things, or where the aisles are very narrow. I never give gifts that are fragile and I hate receiving those. I take extreme and ridiculous precautions when I buy things like eggs or anything that comes in glass jars or glass bottles. 

I'm so scared of my cats accidentally turning the stove on when I'm not home, that I have removed the stove knobs and only put them back when I'm actually cooking. Laugh if you want to, but it has actually happened when they were kittens. Removing the knobs seemed like the simplest way to get peace of mind.  

All in all I'm scared of anything happening to my cats, so I'm obsessively removing anything that could in any freaky way pose a hazard to them. Including sticks put in potted plants to keep them upright. Not in my home, what if my babies play around and fall into it and take an eye out????

I used to be terrified of forgetting my wallet and be stuck in a checkout line and not being able to pay. I'm not anymore after IT FUCKING HAPPENED and I somehow survived!  

Edited February 8, 2021 by Chanel_no5

[Travel]

I have anxiety issues, so worrying too much about unlikely events are at the order of the day. Also, I'm in a creative field so I need to have an active imagination in order to eat, you know? But let's see, I've been worried about: Getting hit by a meteor or space debris, my house suddenly falling into pieces, a helicopter or airplane crashing into my house or in my neighborhood, burning myself on my coffee or tea to the point that I'm unable to talk, something like a spider or some other venomous animal popping out of the toilet, suddenly the brakes on my car not working, etc. 

[Chanel_no5]

7 minutes ago, Travel said:

my house suddenly falling into pieces,

OR INTO A SURPRISE SINKHOLE!!!  

[Travel]

12 minutes ago, Chanel_no5 said:

OR INTO A SURPRISE SINKHOLE!!!  

Exactly! Or the floor just suddenly breaking apart and taking me with it. 

[Joal 555]

8 hours ago, Travel said:

suddenly the brakes on my car not working, etc.

Yep, I have all sorts of unlikely crash scenarios whizzing through my head, based on the traffic conditions at the time, or just what could randomly happen.

 

[Chanel_no5]

I'm always worried that there will be a leak in the gas tank and that the car will catch on fire while I'm driving. All in all, inside my mind, apparently anything can catch on fire at any time.   Related to that, I never light candles. I don't find it relaxing, I'm just anxious about the fire hazard they pose. 

 

Speaking of unlikely scenarios related to driving, listen to this which actually happened: I was driving, it started snowing heavily, and windscreen wipers decided they no longer wanted to actually touch the windscreen and wipe anything off it. It's a winding road with lots of heavy traffic, I could see nothing, and I wasn't even sure where I was because of the snow. It came out of nowhere.  

Unlikely scenarios demand unlikely solutions, so I stopped and put a sanitary pad between the windscreen wiper and the windscreen - which actually worked better than I had hoped! - and drove very carefully to my destination. When I arrived, the snowfall had stopped as abruptly as it started and it was brilliant sunshine out. WTF??? 

The rest of that week I had a sock on the wiper while driving. Less embarrassing but worked reasonably well. Car's owner has yet to buy a new set of wipers, but now it's not my problem.  

Edited February 9, 2021 by Chanel_no5

[Travel]

@Joal 555 @Chanel_no5 I can totally relate. I have to admit that sometimes I get way too anxious about driving, it's something that I've been working through for years. 

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

when i was a tween i used to be very worried that an earthquake would open up a huge rift in the earth and separate me from my family forever 🙃

looking back, i think i got those intrusive thoughts bc my grams moving away the year prior was traumatic for me

[Rhomberg Rabbit]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:18 AM, Chanel_no5 said:

I All in all, inside my mind, apparently anything can catch on fire at any time.   Related to that, I never light candles. I don't find it relaxing, I'm just anxious about the fire hazard they pose. 

I never light candles for the same reason 

[Joal 555]

Some more on my list:

• Getting lost in a strange city or (especially) in a strange country, where they don't speak English.
• Falling over while walking and ending up in a lake or at the bottom of a hill.
• Losing my flat/apartment due to a fire or electrical explosion or any other disastrous event.
• Being burgled and losing all my electronic devices and equipment (actually this did happen to me in 1993 and of course, it's covered by insurance, but it's not something I want to go through again).

All pretty unlikely, but plenty of scope for worry!