Reasons I'm Not an Astronaut

Today's thoughts:

I was considering random fears this morning, for no apparent reason. Most fears are born out of something. Perhaps they're constructed ideas from media, or maybe past childhood traumas, but regardless, our psyche glances at our world around us and creates personal scenarios that become frightening to us.

And sometimes that process creates completely irrational things to be afraid of. I suspect we all have a few ridiculous fears. I'm not talking the slightly legitimate things like a fear of spiders, which theoretically could really bite you and cause some trauma. Or snakes. I've both been bitten by spiders and on occasion encountered snakes, so I don't consider those completely irrational. No, I'm talking about things which are either impossible, or extremely unlikely.

Here are a few I've developed over the years.

1. Floating into space.


The idea of being in space, floating away from the ship, let's say to do routine maintenance on a solar panel, and having my tether be cut... makes my chest constrict just thinking about it. I mean, let's be honest, how likely is it that I'll ever be in space and have my tether cut? But the very thought of floating helplessly away, knowing I'll run out of oxygen or freeze to death eventually, but being so helpless is kinda horrifying to me. On the other hand, you would have quite a view before you eventually died. I suppose there are worse ways to go.

2. Being crushed in a submarine.


If the fear of floating away into complete openness is freaky, then so is the opposite: being immersed in crushing blue-black water at the bottom of the ocean is another fear that plagues me. Which is unfortunate, given my interest in shipwrecks. There's something about the color of the water at that depth, where even light can't filter through, and you know you're surrounded on all sides by so much pressure you'd be dead in an instant if anything goes wrong... yeah, that's just no good.

3. Driving beneath a collapsing overpass.


This one is a possibility, but the chances of me finding myself under an overpass at the moment an earthquake hits or shoddy workmanship gives way to a collapse, is extraordinarily minute. And yet, I can't help but think about it every time I drive under one, and for a moment, hold my breath, just in case tons upon tons of cement are about to rain down on my head.

Don't look at me like I'm crazy. Like you don't have your own ridiculous fears. And frankly, I encourage you to expound on yours, now that you know mine.