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I've been wondering some about this in the past, and I came to some interesting conclusions.

Some things freak me out, such as maybe open spaces in the dark. Give me shady corners and creepy houses any day, but place me on a field of grass in the middle of the night, and my hair will practically go white and my teeth crack and break with chattering.. It's because I don't feel safe unless I have a wall upto which I can put my back. My logic is that I will fight or die trying, and if I have a wall or a corner, not a lot of things are going to be able to sneak up on me. While in open spaces, me not being a good runner, you don't have anywhere to hide, and the threat will probably always be somewhere behind you, looking back will slow you down, and not looking back will freak you out even further.

So, being somewhat of a boggler, I asked a friend how and where she felt safe, and why. She said "Open Spaces" and I was WTFed. D: Her reason was that she would run away from it, and if it did attack she wouldn't see it. Same goes for when she's sleeping in her bed, she likes to turn her back out into the room and not see what's there, while I like to sleep crammed up against the wall...

She can by no means play scary games, or watch horror movies, while I keep my cool through both, we're somewhat of complete opposites in these things..

Stairs and dentists also give me heebies.

So, what are your fears, and how do you deal with them? Can you relate to either of the examples given, or do you have a whole different strategy? Do you even think about these kinds of things.. ? xd

I'm afraid of things that could easily go wrong. My Dad often messes with knives or his stun gun, and I almost always cry when he does. When we went to Arizona, he and my brother did some shooting practice, and I curled up in the car for a few hours. x x;

Oddly enough, when he sets off fireworks in our front lawn, it doesn't bother me as much. Except when the ember landed in his friend's hair.

...good times.

As for the open/closed spaces, neither really bother me, and neither bring me comfort. The dark, however, does freak me out, especially after I've stayed up all night reading GhostStudy. gonk

Clowns.

I'm paranoid, really paranoid. To the point where you'd want to take me to a psychologist paranoid.

I used to be kept awake by the thought of getting cancer or some disease/illness, no joke. Umm, the thought of someone coming after me being outside my window kept me awake too. For this reason I avoided windows at night. sweatdrop And... hm... natural disasters kept me up at night. Here I am, living in the bay area in a city where floods only occur like once every 0138571398561047 years, and the thought of a hurricane or tornado freaked me out. I'm afraid of fire, too, so I used to always think that our house would go up in flames and tried to avoid facing the door late at night due to the warm glow of the nightlight in the bathroom. I couldn't close it either, because I HAD to know that our house was okay.

The night still scares me. I can't see that well at night and I'm not the most aware of people. Sometimes I feel reckless and just walk home at night, but that's when I'm too emotionally distressed to care whether something happens to me or not. Hmmm... doctors/dentists still scare me, too. 3am scares me, the most sacreligious hour of the day, the hour when events of the supernatural nature supposedly occur most.

Any situation where I think I could get hurt scares me. Catwalks (the theatre kind, where you walk up to where the spotlight is and you're above the whole freaking theater), short/long falls, slippery surfaces, people playing with sharp objects...

I fear other people getting hurt too.

The open space in the dark thing, I can relate to. One night, our band was going to perform at a concert, and my friend led me out into the field, next to the band room... I had to turn back because I started to get freaked out.

I could go on, but I'd probably be here forever trying to list everything. I'm just a timid person in general.

I don't really have a preference over open or closed spaces either. Depends on the circumstances I guess...

Which reminds me, it bugs me how the characters in horror flicks all take on a prey mentality. Run, hide, run, get eviscerated, bleed... Why doesn't it occur to these people to fight back? If videogames have taught us anything, it's that everyone has a weakness--even three-headed dogs, laser-shooting robots, and lesser deities. But I guess if they fought back that would make it an action movie instead of a horror movie...

Anyway, I'm scared of heights. Looking over edges makes my legs all wobbly and I have to sit down so I don't lose my balance and fall. Those big, wobbly rope bridges that span canyons in movies? I couldn't do it.

I cant think of anything Im afraid of. Im sure Id be afraid if I were out in a dark field alone because its happened before. I dont actively think about it though, so it doesnt really bother me.
Whenever I drive Im afraid that my car will break down in the middle of an intersection. xD Maybe thats more of a worry.

Oh lord, I hate horror movies. Even the really sucky ones give me nightmares. ._.;;;

I dunno about stuff that I'm really scared of... I know drowning by suffocation or drowning are on the top of my list, which really sucks, since I love to swim.

Sleeping in the dark after seeing anything near a scary movie are up there too. My mind likes to replay things over and over until I'm almost panicked, then it'll let me fall asleep to dream of the same thing, only greatly exaggerated. <_<

People made fun of me last weekend for having nightmares after watching The Stand. Yeah, that ~8 hour movie that was made from a book by Stephen King. The concept of a plague like that scares the living crap out of me. gonk

Fear for me is diffrent. Clowns and doctor creep me out but that doesn't mean I won't face them.
Snakes, spiders and creepy bugs, I guess you could call a fear but I feel that I just hate them.
Heights bother me but I'll face it without a second thought, I've done rock climbing and such but it doesn't scare me. Its really just the falling part that scares me.
Fire, open or closed spaces, weapons, don't scare me in the least.
I've been around firearms and knifes all my life and know how to use them safely, and kinda have a fixation on them.
Fire, open and closed spaces and darkness, really put me more at ease then anything else.

Fear to me is something that can be controlled, something psychological that can be surpressed and focused into something more useful.
Not to say I'm an adrenaline junkie or anything, but why fear something and become useless when you can manage it, managing your human nature is all about being human.