what is your worst fear

[randomworry]

i ask this because my therpist asked me what i am scared of?
i said cancer
she said why?
i said because they may have missed it
she said what does that mean?
i said i might die
she said so what?
i said im scared of dying
she said why?
i said i dont know but im scared of dying young like everyone else im only 26
she said no their not?
i was like huh?

thats when i realised she is right some people are scared of getting old they would rather die young.

that leads me to my point my core fear is that if i die young i will not do what i want to experience so why am i not making the most of my life now.

I hope this helps some of you because it teaches us that if you understand your core fear you can at least do the things that act against it. i.e im scared of not doing things before i die so i better jolly well get on and do them lol!

obviously it does not 'cure' hyperchondria but it helps

[Anxious_gal]

my worst fear is death ,
I worry that because my anxiety is so bad I'll never have a nice boyfriend, a good job, or travel,
funny though because I know I'm like screwing my self over!
wow that really does put things into perspective!
sorry if i confuse you, but your post really helped!

[nwilliams]

My worst fear is the lie and an accident, whenever I lie it gives me the great fear that If I caught then what would happen. But sometimes my lie has created the best things in the others life. I have a great fear from the accident because it is such a painful situation. I have seen on the highways, the vehicles are badly crashed.

[mary3]

mine is death, especially worry about how my kids would feel as i know how it feels to lose a parent as a child. I worry about dying in front of my children and scarring them emotionally and i also worry about having a terminal illness and how i would cope with the knowledge of not seeing my children grow up!

[Adelle]

Im scared of dying a slow death from cancer in front of my son and not being here for him.

[heather xx]

im scared of death. Not being able to see my children grow up. Its always a health problem i worry about in some cases there is more chance of me getting hit by a bus than having some sort of cancer and that doesnt fase me at all!

[Vixxy]

Im not scared of death, Im scared of the pain and suffering before it. Death could be a release from pain.
I think my main fear is around losing control. I worry that if Im ill I'll be sent to hospital and be made to stay, which will make me really anxious. Writing it down makes it seem really silly because im just admitting my main fear is my anxiety not the situation.

[Peter_Scott]

I think my fear is like most people with health anxiety, the fear of dyeing NOT death. I am not in fear of death it's self I know death is just a part of the life cycle. I think my fear is not being able to do the things I want to do because I am ill.

The scientists, doctors and the media have a lot to answer for, people expect to live to a ripe old age, we now have a life expectancy of 90 years, and feel somehow cheated if we don't get our full quoter. People say poor woman she was so young only 60. The thing is what ever age we are we want more life, 20, 40, 60 or 100 it does not matter, as long as life is fair to middling we normally want to go on.

I am living my worst fear; after a life of health anxiety I am faced with physical illness and pain, I do regret that I had so many years of fearing I was ill, but there is no point in what ifs,

Peter

[crazyhayz]

This helped me alot in my CBT course. I used to have a total fear of dying/death, and now i think 'For gods sake, why ruin the ONE LIFE I HAVE worrying about something that is inevitably going to happen whether i blimmin' well like it or not, and theres nothing i can do about it!! In life, uve just gotta ride it, go with it, and appreciate u have been born and have a life to live. You only get one shot, life is not a rehearsal, worrying about the inevitable is only going to ruin the only chance at life you've got. I want my son to have a happy and fun mummy, who gives him the best life as can be, children pick up on stress, worry unhappinnness, and I REFUSE to do this to my son any longer..

I just think what is the point in worrying?!! What will be, will be!! Whatever is guna happen, is guna happen, i have to accept it, and i have done, and will do so for the rest of my life. I have spoke to many people in the past about this sort of stuff, mostly old people, and they all giggle to themselves, and they say 'You know, i worried and felt like that at your age, but now im old, it doesnt bother me one bit, its not scary when u get old and ur health isnt great, death and dying is not feared' I now say that when u get old, if u have spent ur life worrying like this, or anything for that matter, to the point where it ruins ur life, u feel unhappy, it affects you every single day, or puts ur life on a permement hold, then when you ARE infact old, u will look back and think 'WHY??' ... 'why didnt I enjoy it?' and THAT is what will make u feel down about the life u have lived, and about dying/death.

However, if u have lived ur life as well as u can, and didnt let things like this get in ur way, then u will feel satisfied and happy with the life u had, and dying/death will NOT feel wrong, worrying, or scary. This is how i see it, and many many old people will tell u the same thing. Please, dont spend ur only chance at life worrying about this.

You've got a life to live, so get out there and live it! :) xxxxx

[stressbunny]

wise words hayley...big turning point for me was when it was pointed out that it didn't matter if I did have MS cos it wasn't MS that wrecking mine and my family and my friends lives...it was the fear of MS...it was HEALTH ANXIETY!!!

I agree with Peter, it was the process of dying that scared the hell out of me, until I realised that for the quality of life I was leading I might as well be dying...

My biggest fear now, in answer to the OP, is HA coming back...but i know I have conquered it once so I know if it comes back again, I will conquer it again (but a bit quicker next time!)

[John_Daryl]

Cancer, I don't mind the fact that I must die some day, everybody does. It's when I think to myself, "I'm only 18 years old, I can't die so young". But then I take a look at the people around me. When I was in primary school, my friends brother had leukemia and he was about 8 years old. Such a sad story, a great kid who never did anything wrong, and it ended up taking his life 3-4 years later. Then my grandma got cancer, and they caught it late, which ended up taking her life too.

I keep thinking, "what if its my turn" "what if im the next one to have cancer at a young age". Its scary stuff, it really is.

My heart goes out to all those with health anxiety, its a horrible thing.

[summertime]

i have 2 fears gosh even its hard to say the words but seizures and dying scares me so much

[Anxious_gal]

it's so strange I think we all know deep down that our irrational fears are in a way robbing us of a life.
I went to town today, I was shaking and so nervous and I was thinking of this post and it helped me keep going :-)
If I want my life back I have to stop giving into my anxiety, because I fear not having a life more than I do the anxiety.

[crazyhayz]

So true mishel, giving in to anxiety is what keeps it going.

[bazza]

To be completely honest my worse fear is leaving behind my 3 year old boy and my wife i would feel i let them down by being ill or dying i just dont want to leave them on there own ..

[margaret jones]

Great to read the positive replys it is so true why do we worry and fret over our health for yrs and then look back and think that we have wasted all those yrs for nothing from this day forward i am going to look forward and try and stop this bloody H A ruining my present

Takr Care Maggie

[KittyR]

Thanks guys, I have found this post really helpful.
xx

[Spike78]

Thought I would add my thoughts as well.

I am really scared of dying too - my fear is so bad that I am wasting my life worrying about it. I am now 36 and worry so bad that I have something really serious wrong with me that I can't function properly. I wake up every morning and say to myself that "I am going to die today". I have a habit of saying it and I can't stop it.

Could all stem from my dad dying 2 years ago. It was very sudden and unexpected and he was only 61. He died of heart failure and that is now one of my biggest fears.

I just worry that I will die and leave everybody behind and everyone will get on with their lives like I have had to do since my dad died. I know its a selfish thought but I am really scared. I have seen a Psychiatrist and although helping initially it hasn't really stopped these feelings.

[gracesophia]

My fear is of getting ill or dying because of something that was my fault - which is why I am obsessed with sexually-transmitted infections and possible side-effects of drugs/medications I've chosen to take. I can't bear the thought of receiving a diagnosis and knowing I could have prevented it if it hadn't been for a poor life choice. God I need some therapy.. Although saying that, my therapist said she doesn't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with me that I can't fix, so that is nice to know!

I am also worried about feeling like this forever and wasting my life :-(

[Chips]

My worst fear is dying as a result of stress created by...yes...worrying about dying! Can you believe that?!! I think it stems from reading about how some people have died from wrong diagnosis - their doctor told them they have 6 months to live and they die six months later - even though they had nothing wrong with them. The stress of thinking they had not long to live actually killed them. It's like some Voodoo in action. This freaks me out and I get into a bad train of thought where I think this will happen to me if I worry about death enough. I have to remind myself that these poor folk were probably weak or had underlying heart problems etc and the stress and anxiety was too much. I'm not afraid of death as personal experience has convinced me of the afterlife - I'd rather be around for as long as possible though.

[Andy699]

Mine isn't death but dying young. My worst fear ever is dying young and lying on my deathbed thinking 'I never got to travel the world' or 'I never got to get married'. Horrible things like that