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?

Oh and anything falling from really tall buildings and bashing my head in 🤣

Old age, loneliness, illness and dying alone (I have no family).

I thought it was only me that felt like this about orcas , i agree they are terrifying.

Scared of something happening to my family or me, leaving my dc without me to care for them.
Im also scared of horror films now weirdly. I used to love them but now they scare me even though Im not really concerned about any of it being real.

I’m intrigued about orcas being so terrifying. They’re pretty easy to avoid though.

I don't think Orcas have ever killed anyone in the wild

I think we're afraid of fewer things as we get older. Mainly because life experience has taught us that fear is an unnecessary and unhelpful emotion. But also because we know that we'll die fairly soon, so being afraid of stuff is pretty pointless 😂
I suppose the only thing I'm genuinely a bit scared of is living too long.

Quite common ones but definitely flying - just general terror about it falling out of the sky into the sea and drowning slowly while trapped inside 😭 it’s made my heart race just thinking about it sitting safely on my sofa (and I know there will be some statistic somewhere that says my ceiling is more likely to cave in on me and kill me but fear has no logic or rationale!).
The other one is getting stuck upside down mid rollercoaster ride. For hours. And just the general constriction of willingly strapping myself into something I have zero control
over. I suppose it’s the same for both planes and coasters.

I do still fly because I like being on hot holidays and I do still ride rollercoasters because I do enjoy the buzz with the dc but the fear is very real.

Flying. Always grateful to land safely!

Me too! Every little noise in the car makes me think it might break down any minute - I used to drive all over the country in a tiny old car with just the minimum in preparations and a note blutacked to the dashboard telling me which junctions to take - now I’m okay when I get going but am anxious for a few days before a drive longer than a couple of hours.
I’ve gradually become quite claustrophobic and never had a problem with enclosed spaces at all.

I haven’t read the full thread but from the first page, it seems like most people are getting more generally scared as they get older. I’ve found the opposite. I’m eerily calm because realising my mortality and my insignificance makes me think that being scared doesn’t matter/is futile.

I am in my 30s though. I remember my Mum saying that women get more anxious after menopause. Could it be partly true? Maybe hormones aren’t helping? I don’t want to be ageist or sexist but at the same time, hormonal changes can be a cruel mistress in my opinion (I have endometriosis).

Big dogs. I used to love all dogs, but have had several close-up and in your face encounters in the mountains with large livestock guardian dogs barking, chasing and circling and am now phobic about them. As soon as I hear cow or sheep bells (I live on the continent), I go into panic mode. Difficult, because my main hobby is walking in the mountains ☹️.

When I can no longer have a dog.

Being physically weak.

Being poor. It's likely.

I worry about money.
I worry about the world in general, it’s all so depressing with news about war and extra spending on defence.
It feels very bleak.

I had an MRI since I posted this. It was noisy but not claustrophobic and I was totally fine, so that worry is gone.

I can’t answer for everyone, and have no issue with going up escalators, but going down on them is another matter! I’m not scared of them but the combination of the stripes, the glass side panels and the height make me slightly dizzy now I’m well into my 50s. I never had a problem with heights until I hit the menopause and then boom! I started getting vertigo. It means I have a slight delay before I get on a down going escalator, because I’m having to tell myself to look straight ahead and not down!
I still love wild swimming, I have no issue with driving, happy to take myself for mini adventures, planning more solo travelling once my youngest is fully independent, but heights, even when scrambling down perfectly passable footpaths have become a real problem….its not fear it’s just lack of coordination and the vertigo effect!

Being alone at night. I’ve read far too many crime/murder novels, and although ive stopped doing that now, it’s too late. Ive had counselling, but it was the wrong kind so it didn’t work. I’d love to know if anyone else has recovered from this phobia.

Death and climate change

Driving at night by myself ( live rural ) so country roads . And horror films that put people in great jeopardy ( along the lines of Saw movies / torture showing )

Getting even older - I’m terrified about not having enough money during retirement (whenever that’ll be!) and the general decline in my health. Having seen how getting older has been for my parents, I’m dreading it.

Less selfishly - just the fucked up state of the world, pretty much everything about it. Young people and the damage social media does, famine, war, genocide, climate change, lack of global equality, unemployment, cost of living etc.

It feels the worst it’s been in my lifetime but maybe I was too young to fully understand all the other bad times.

Never working again. I'm 50 and got made redundant a week ago from a niche, highly paid role. I won't work in that role again, I'm too old now (and frankly had come to hate the job anyway) but need to find something else to tide me over for 7-8 years, but the jobs market is horrific. The skills employers are asking for, for £25k-£30k a year roles are unbelievable, not that I have those skills anyway and nobody is going to hire a 50 year old career changer. I genuinely think I'll never work again and that terrifies me. And then I worry about how DC will find jobs when they are through education. If they choose to go to uni they will be saddled with so much debt, with a good chance they won't find graduate jobs afterwards. Graduate apprenticeships look fantastic, but the competition is so fierce. So generally, the state of the employment market and how we're meant to actually fund being alive.

The NHS!

Having to have any emergency procedure or diagnostic test on NHS where they refuse pain relief / offer inadequate relief. They do seem to ration/ discourage pain relief.

Also scared of them not listening if I tell them to stop - ie criminal assault. Also scared of having to be in hospital at all. No confidence staff will be pleasant or even competent in all cases - most, sure - but you can’t rely on it.

I recently made young member of staff with awful bowel disease much happier by telling her company private health insurance would pay for private colonoscopy. Not unpleasant at all in pleasant sex segregated surroundings with pain relief and an experienced consultant.

My colonoscopy had adequate pain relief and decent experienced staff. Thank god as we have no private healrhcare here.

Being dead