Thought I'd weigh in on this topic a bit.
I'm afraid of needles. Big needles, small needles, any kind of hollow metal tube that has to stab me to put some kind of fluid in; I have a totally irrational fear of them that makes me tense up and increases my pulse rate by a good thirty beats per minute. BUT I'm on insulin; I have a choice every night whether to stab myself full of Lantus or take my chances with high sugars and possible complications if i don't. I close my eyes and stab away. I am also a blood donor with five lifetime gallons to my name, one pint at a time; I have never ONCE watched them put the needle in my arm.
I'm afraid of heights. I get vertigo if I'm too high up, I break out into cold sweats, and I tense up the same way I do with needles. I cope with this by staying on the ground; I don't even look out windows higher than the second floor (and I'm proud of that second floor, dammit!) if I can avoid it in any way.
I'm afraid of tight spaces. After being in an elevator when the power went out, cue the panic attack if I think I'm going to be trapped. As long as the box is moving smoothly, I can handle it. If there are too many people, if the death-box shakes, or if it takes longer to get from one floor to another floor, same as the needle.
I'm afraid of flying. Heights scare me, enclosed spaces scare me, and the thought of hurtling though the air in a steel coffin full of rocket fuel with a bunch of strangers crowded around me petrifies me; the fact that said coffin was built by the contractor who put in the lowest bid just drizzles anxiety sauce on top of that fear sundae. I *can* fly, but it usually takes a bit of chemical help (Valium, or a few good stiff drinks.)
All of those I can cope with, and do. I HAVE to take my insulin, I HAVE to go above the ground level to do my job, I HAVE to trap myself in various boxes (bathrooms, elevators, supply closet, etc) and if I want to travel anywhere at all, I HAVE to fly there. All of these fears and anxieties I face because the alternative scares me even more...
I'm afraid that one day I'll die alone and forgotten. My worst nightmare is the one where I've outlived everyone who I know and love except for the friends and family I alienate so badly that they cut me out of their lives. I die and nobody knows it happened, or SOME people DO know but they don't care. No legacy, no memorial, nobody to mourn me; the thought of that scares me more than anything else on this Earth.
Realistically, I know it won't happen. I have friends, and I'm a teensy bit memorable; I tend to leave an impression on strangers I meet.
I believe FDR said it best when he spoke those immortal words "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." As long as we face our fears, own them, and meet those fears head on and exercise some willpower... they'll still scare us.
But at the very least, we'll be ready for 'em.
