What have you become afraid of as you have gotten older?

[AliceMcK]

Heights.

They never bothered me when I was younger, I travelled and visited towers with glass floors, I never got to jump out of a plane but always wanted to. I did The Nevis bungee jump when I think it was the world’s highest, multiple vertical (slingshot) bungies, paragliding, I remember once being lifted up by a crane and pulling a cord to release me and 2 strangers, we free fell then swung in the air. I was absolutely that annoying person who swung the big wheel carriage when we were at the top.

Now the thought of even a ferris wheel freaks me out. I went on the small one at Legoland Windsor a few years ago felt so sick, I couldn’t look at anything. My DDs wanted to go on the Liverpool Wheel the other week and I felt so bad because I’ve always talked about cool things I’ve done, but I couldn’t do it. I can’t even go on high theme park rides any more. When I was younger, talking right into my 30s, the bigger the better.

I don’t know what has happened to me, I still love the thought of jumping out of a plane but I know I’d be a quivering mess if I tried.

Anyone else have sudden fears they never had, other than the immortal ever lasting sleep that is?

My knees
Toxic people should cause me to have physical reactions to them.

Kindly, you are demonising orcas. They are predators and need to eat, just like any other predator. Why not pick on Sparrowhawks or shrike or pike?!

Sunflowers scare the shit out of me now.
I imagine them coming alive at night and creeping through open windows and smothering me with their huge flower heads😩

Stairs. It's not even funny now the amount of times I've tumbled.

Mainly ill health. Now in my 40s I find I have to be 100% on track with diet, exercise and sleep otherwise I start getting annoying symptoms. I think the lack of any safety net/knowledge that the nhs will be able to fix me does not help with the anxiety.

I am afraid of having to go to hospital as an emergency, since I was taken by ambulance to A&E as I collapsed while walking my dog a couple of weeks ago. I was on a corridor in A&E for 2 days, right by the only toilet, which was sort of lucky, as I had diarrhoea. I was given a bed but no ward space available. Two days of trying not to shit myself, with nowhere to wash properly or change clothes, whilst on a drip. I was dehydrated due to a combination of circumstances and new medication. I am 73 and now understand older people's reluctance to be taken to hospital.
I knew the NHS was in trouble, but I hadn't seen the reality of what that means.

Health - getting sick
Losing those I love. DPs both now sadly died so I've shuffled to the front of the Q - I'm now the matriarch 😉

Aren't rollercoasters, heights flying etc. something to do with inner ear crystals moving as you get older?

I used to be able to go on all the big rides, front row, backwards etc. but I have to be selective now.

Some of it I think is about responsibilities, once you have children, older more dependent parents, mortgages and such like, your assessment of risk changes.

Poor health
Failing mind

Rollar coasters too- used to love them now am TERRIFIED!! (I assume I’m going to have a heart attack and die which isn’t dramatic at all😅).
worst thing is the kids are at the age where I have to be brave for them on roller coasters (they generally end up saying‘you’ll be ok mammy, we can do this’😅😅😅

queenMab99
That’s horrible, sorry that happened to you x

Nothing really. Although since DH and I have a combined age of 132 I do sometimes wonder what the future will hold for us health-wise.

Losing the ability to earn money.

Definitely as you heights.

Went to top of Eiffel Tower in a lift with friends and their teenage daughters. One friend and daughter went to the lower viewing platform.

I did scream (I was petrified) but more because somehow I either worried about falling through or the lift breaking down. I suppose I’ve seen too many disaster movies!

Yes older and wiser I think...
Heights
Flying
Walking alone in the dark

But things I'm longer scared of
What people think
Failing at work
Saying no

Interesting how often driving fast comes up here. I'm petrified if dh pulls out and overtakes in the fast lane. Its literally terrifying. Didn't have this before menopause or peri.
Wonder what causes it?

I've become claustrophobic.

My dh dying - don’t know how I could go on without him.
We went to Europa Park a few years ago and, out of the blue, I decided to go on Europe’s biggest rollercoaster. For context, I had never been on a rollercoaster before and though, how bad could it be? To answer the question , dd thought I had died halfway through. The photo shows. Corpse like creature sandwiched between two jubilant teens. We have it in a frame and I still have flashbacks. Truly horrendous.
Lso, night driving, rats and the dentist.

Not being here anymore...not actually 'dying', I'm not afraid of death itself, just the fact that my time is running out and I'll not get to see my children and grandchildren growing up. (God I'm tearing up writing this!)

Love this. Well I don't obviously, but, hadn't thought of it like that. But thinking about it, you can actually get robots that mop the floor so where does that leave us 😮 😂

Well i have all the usual fears - claustraphobia, fear of heights, not good with spiders (though the jumping spider found in Cornwall looks so cute!) but.... I( am really afraid of losing my mind. I am getting quite forgetful.

Swimming in the sea. When I was a teenager on holiday I'd always swim in the sea and swim quite far out. Last year when we went to Spain, I tried to do the same but felt totally terrified when my feet couldn't touch the seabed.

Heights definitely, was in a hotel in Paris on the eighth floor, my kids dancing in the tiny balcony and I swear every nerve was on fire every minute we were in that room... Also big drops, the sort just too high to be able to safely jump down (my dreams are full of them) anything like scissors, secateurs or loppers (ugh) swimming in the ocean...

Dying. I'm about to turn 50 and I literally think about it everyday 😭 Although the fear has made me start walking daily, cutting out alcohol and eating better 🤷‍♀️😂

Theme parks. I was always nervous of them as on a Brownies day out my bar on the pirate ship was not secured and I spent the whole ride hanging on for dear life, trying to not vomit or cry. It's stayed with me. We went as a family to Alton Towers last year and I held the coats. I wouldn't go on.
Flying has got worse over the years, now avoidant.
I worry more about cancer.
Light hearted: recently started being scared of staying over night anywhere in B&B in case of bedbugs.