Although the lists vary somewhat, generally, the ten most common fears and phobias of human kind are:
1) Fear of loneliness
2) Fear of death
3) Fear of public speaking or open spaces
4) Fear of spiders, rats, cockroaches, snakes, airplanes, … (specific objects)
5) Fear of intimacy
6) Fear of going crazy
7) Germaphobia
8) Fear of being a coward
9) Fear of being poisoned
10) Fear of getting old
I found it oddly comforting to know I wasn’t alone (fear #1) in my phobia of a specific object (fear #4). My name is Lisa and I’m afraid of birds. It’s an irrational fear I can’t control and sends me hiding for cover if they fly to close overhead(within thirty feet) or I can’t avoid interaction with them. The condition has caused me embarrassment a couple of times most notably on a visit to a hummingbird sanctuary in Costa Rica. The birds were beautiful and plentiful; however the enjoyment was hampered by my crouching on the wooden planks, wrapping my arms around Matt’s calf and whimpering. He talked me into the gift shop and I fortified myself with a stiff coffee for the return to the vehicle.
My ornithophobia reared its feathered head last week in the middle of the night. Matt was working, so I had to endure the owl outside my bedroom window all alone. The unreasonable creature who, whooed, on the deck railing until I became a shivering ball of nerves under my blankets. I’m almost certain it meant to murder me and cough up pellets of my hair and teeth in the forest behind our home.
Thankfully, the Lord gives us promises in His word we can count on when fears, realistic or not, threaten to overwhelm us:
“When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” (Psalm 56:3 NIV)
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
“The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)