What’s the most unusual thing that has caused you distress?

[otomedissection]

Outside of traumatic experiences, health, finances, etc., what is the most unusual thing that has contributed to you feeling distressed? I guess to give an example of what I mean, I'll share my own answer.

For me it was reading stories on r/AmITheAsshole. It probably sounds silly, but I noticed that over time, these stories made me more paranoid of the world around me. Reading constant posts every day about someone interacting with cartoonishly evil people or being cartoonishly evil themselves. And while I know that there are many genuinely horrible people out there who do things like these stories discuss, my view of how many good vs. bad people there are in the world was warped. It made me feel like it's commonplace for the people closest to you to always be out to get you. And I'm kind of embarrassed to admit how long it took me to consider that most of these stories were either made up or AI-generated. It made it easy to forget that there are truly good people out there who are on my side.

 

[Redacted24]

It sounds silly and petty but...

A few years back I sent a dear friend a photo of the salmon salad I made for dinner (it looked amazing)
And I suggested that maybe one day I could make that meal for us if she visited.

She replied simply, "I don't eat salmon"

It ... hurt ... that she only said that. I was just trying to offer to make us a meal to share together. Didn't have to be that, exactly, of course. I can make other things too.

But the blunt dismissal of my offer, really stuck with me. And I keep coming back to it in my mind because it's kinda changed my thoughts of her, it's likely changed our relationship some as well in my subconscious.

Silly of me, right?

 

[bloodybushman]

OCD means I could write an entire book filled with all the stupid things that made me freak out, so I'll just choose one of my most recent and drastic ones, then a funnier one.

(For context, I still live with my parents, they let my sister and I stay as long as we need.)

I developed this irrational fear that my dad was going to snap and kill me. No, my dad has never laid a hand on me, or threatened to lay a hand on me. I've never seen him lay a hand on or threaten anyone else either. He doesn't drink, abuse drugs (anymore), or yell very often. I just suddenly gained this fear that he was going to suddenly come down with his gun and off me in my sleep.

The climax of this fear came when my dad and I got into an argument while I was still half-asleep, and he said something along the lines of, "We're done," and stormed away. My half-asleep, panicking brain took this to mean, "I'm fed up with you, and I'm so mad I'm going to kill you." So, still in the clothes I wore to sleep, I tossed some socks and a pair of crocs on, grabbed my keys and ID, went out through a back door, jumped our fence into the neighbor's yard, jumped their other fence onto the road, texted my girlfriend what happened, then called 911 and admitted myself to the psych ward.

In the moment, that all felt like a reasonable reaction to me. The next day as I was eating the slop the ward provided for lunch, I realized that was incredibly stupid and likely made me look quite childish. I'm still a bit embarrassed about it.

As for a funnier story, I once developed a severe fear of choking during a bad episode of health anxiety, and that led to a very intense fear of... glazed donuts. It was specifically like, one certain brand, too. I can eat donuts fine now, though I still prefer them powdered and jelly-filled :)

 

[boddibo]

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[FoxSauce]

It can be all sorts of things dumb ones for example:

A coworker basically manipulated me and felt like crap, sh and just dealt with paranoia. More having thought of he could follow me home and berate me .And I found after out it was a lie. Just let me super hurt.

Then again it was dumb of me

Or someone being dry or not receiving forgives or even stuck in my own head sometimes.

 

[seeyoulater26]

My coworkers. lol love the job, love the company, but got a love-hate relationship with the colleagues.
They're kinda nice??? But they could be the most gossipy-nosey-ass, disrespectful, "if performative LinkedIn posts came to life" people in the world.
I trusted some of them at first til something very personal happened to me and found out that my boss knew intimate details without me even telling them. Turns out, my "best friend" was one of the culprits.
It's so draining being around people like that. I try to avoid conversations as much as possible.
Just playing along til I can save up and be ready to leave for a remote job.

 

[Spite]

There are specific songs, shows, and other media that causes me distress for reasons I'm not even exactly sure of myself. I know it's going to sound extremely, laughably stupid but one example I can think of is South Park. I've never really watched it, it's not my thing. However, one unifying trait shared amongst all of the people who have hurt me the most in my life is that I've noticed almost all of the worst people I've met in my life were fans of South Park. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but it's still weird. Whenever I see anything to do with South Park whether it's just a character, a short clip from the show, or something like that, I am instantly reminded of all those people who have hurt me throughout my life.

 

[SASU-KE]

Silly of me, right?

No.

Spoiler

I'm kidding bro, but absolutely not. That's not the way to respond to someone being that thoughtful. You're not being silly or overreacting at all.

 

[Mrs. T-800]

One of my phobias is being near high ceilings. It's very odd and strange. I can't explain it. But one I am near a high ceiling, I just start to freak out and crouch down, have a whole anxiety. It puts my distress through the roof.

 

[bl33ding_heart]

I don't know if this is that unusual. But I have an extreme phobia of moths. During the summer moths usually make their way into my house, and sometimes into my bedroom and it's so difficult to get them out. I wouldn't sleep all night and would have mental breakdowns over it. And my mom would be mad at me and tell me to grow up.

 

[Knives_14]

>I was probably around 4yo, centimeters away from the screen of the Tv.
>Spiders documentary
>HUGE closeup of a spider's face, with its eyes in grand display
>freak out
>now even the tiniest spider will scare the living shit out of me ^^

 

[StupiderJuniper]

for some reason certain tastes that i recognize from my childhood can cause me pretty bad distress (i kinda associate them with some bad events ig), like i would genuinely freak out over em and be unable to eat or calm down for a bit. they are pretty specific, stuff like certain fermented yogurt products and certain chicken dishes. im a very picky eater, but this was smthn else entirely. sometimes i recognize the taste in entirely different foods which really sucks lmao. i kinda overcame some of it tho thankfully lol.