What’s something everyone thinks is normal, but you’re actually terrified of? – 17 everyday things that give people the heebie-jeebies

Everyone’s scared of something, whether that’s heights, spiders or cramped spaces.

These fears are reasonable enough, but even seemingly regular things can be the source of a phobia. And we know this because rayhuan put the following question to the good people of r/AskReddit:

‘What’s something everyone thinks is normal, but you’re actually terrified of?’

Comfort blankets at the ready, here are the top answers…

1.

‘Hot air balloon rides. Ain’t no way you’ll have me a mile up in a wicker basket’
-offbrandbarbie

2.

‘Geckos. I’m a vet tech and I’ve worked with tigers and other crazy animals but I cannot even look at a gecko.’
-Accurate-Surprise302

3.

‘Being in crowded places. I’m looking for exits and getting close to them.’
-drunkguynextdoor

4.

‘Balloons. I know they could pop and I ALWAYS get really startled with sudden noises so I always get really really tense when someone else has them’
-Kittying-Kitty

5.

‘Driving next to a big trucks on the highway. Everyone else seems totally chilled and I’m over there gripping the steering wheel like it’s my last day on earth. The second an 18 wheeler pulls up besides me, my brain is like “Yep, this is how it ends”. I know it’s irrational but I still speed up just to get away.’
-Suitable-Ad291

6.

‘Casual sex. Took me till my 30s to get through all the early 2000s conditioning to realize how much I don’t like to be intimate with an almost complete stranger that way.’
-HadrianWinter

7.

‘Having kids’
-IvanNobody2050

8.

‘Electric sockets. They scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. I think they look like faces.’
-ddyldspt

9.

‘Public speaking. I’d rather fight a bear.’
-ghost-vox