Answering the phone. Listening to voicemails.
There’s no reason I should fear these now, but I was hit by a car back when I was in college (nearly 20 years ago now), and I had no health insurance and couldn’t pay any bills. I was already barely affording to eat.
So, almost every single call I got was related to a bill that I knew I couldn’t pay. The trauma of that has stayed with me to this day and I will often leave voicemails which are perfectly innocuous unlistened to for days, weeks, eternity…
That kind of stress just stays with you.
Phone calls. Knowing I have to make a phone call wrecks my entire week.
Answering work emails from last September, currently at it now. So late that I’m afraid to even reply now.
On the bright side, if the emails are from September then they can’t have been terribly important. There’s probably nothing to actually worry about.
Going to the dentist. Someone in my mouth like that bothers me to no end for some reason. The last time I had a toothache I yanked it out myself at home with a pair of pliers.
Unfortunately, I’m actually going to the dentist in about 4 hours from now because of two impacted wisdom teeth. I should have done this a long time ago but I guess I’m a sucker for punishment.
Still not looking forward to it, but I’ll be happy when it’s over.
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Being trapped in a social situation where the group has implicitly agreed to sit down and watch broadcast TV and talk about all the commercials like they were relevant topics to us.
For most of my life it was money. I’m fine with large numbers but put a “$” in front of it and I’d head for the door.
Handling bills and other paperwork.
Answering the phone. Listening to voicemails.
There’s no reason I should fear these now, but I was hit by a car back when I was in college (nearly 20 years ago now), and I had no health insurance and couldn’t pay any bills. I was already barely affording to eat.
So, almost every single call I got was related to a bill that I knew I couldn’t pay. And they were relentless. The trauma of that has stayed with me to this day and I will often leave voicemails which are perfectly innocuous unlistened to for days, weeks, eternity…
That kind of stress just stays with you.
This also extends to opening the mail.
When I was a kid I was absolutely certain that at some point in my life I was going to have a close call with quick-sand.
Being a mom. I’m afraid of becoming one and then having to do a balancing act of loving them the right way for eighteen years.