What's the dumbest thing that made you freak out? (In a bad way)
I once had got a full blown panic attack from seeing a house being demolished (I had no connection to the house or people living in/owning it in any way)
MaryJanine · 70-79, F
When I was living at home, the elderly lady across the street pulled a huge black snake out of her bushes with a tree branch, threw it in the street, then started to beat it to death. I remember seeing it rear up and spit back at her. It was a frightening sight. Finally, the man down the block came home in his laundry truck, saw what was happening, and he ran it over with the truck.
SW-User
@MaryJanine oh, wow :-O Poor snake, but I don't blame her for beating it like that.
MaryJanine · 70-79, F
It was probably attacking her. I wasn't aware of what was going on until I saw the snake go flying into the street and her beating it. The kid on the corner came home from school, saw it dead and the broken branch, picked it up, took it home, and buried it in his mother's rose garden. I don't know if she ever realized it.
greenmountaingal · 80-89, F
I had a Donald Duck level temper tantrum after seeing a current photo of the Maynard Building in downtown Seattle on the Internet about 3 years ago.
Back in 1965, I was not quite 20 years old and foolishly in love with a genuine asshole. One of the things he did was to get me to work for free for about 12 of the hardest hours of my young life cleaning out the top floor of the Maynard Building in downtown Seattle. The building was dark and cold on that rainy February day and had no electricity and therefore no elevator necessitating my boyfriend and I and a guy friend to carry boxes of books and glass bricks down 12 flights of stairs, then out in the rain for a block to where our vehicle was parked, then back up the 12 flights of stairs to do it again. I was recovering from the 'flu and still coughing and also had just gotten my period that morning. As I labored, coughing and sweating in that dark freezing cold building, stumbling on the stairs, it occurred to me that no guy who loves his girlfriend would ever expect her to do something like that, but I brushed the thought away because I was in love and insecure and recovering from a very unloving severely abusive childhood. It took me one whole year of ever intensifying abuse to escape this MF. He held me prisoner threatening to kill me if I tried to leave. Eventually, after one unsucessful try, miserable and terrified, I did anyway.
Seeing that building again made me especially angry because my boyfriend's excuse was that they were tearing down the Maynard Building the next day. Seeing that it had never been torn down brought it all back for me.
I know, that is not "stupid" but then I think all emotional reactions and panic attack have a reason for happening and are not really stupid, though I'll admit it did not take me too long to regain my sense of humor realizing how funny I must look jumping up and down and screaming with rage about a building I'd labored in back in 1965.
Back in 1965, I was not quite 20 years old and foolishly in love with a genuine asshole. One of the things he did was to get me to work for free for about 12 of the hardest hours of my young life cleaning out the top floor of the Maynard Building in downtown Seattle. The building was dark and cold on that rainy February day and had no electricity and therefore no elevator necessitating my boyfriend and I and a guy friend to carry boxes of books and glass bricks down 12 flights of stairs, then out in the rain for a block to where our vehicle was parked, then back up the 12 flights of stairs to do it again. I was recovering from the 'flu and still coughing and also had just gotten my period that morning. As I labored, coughing and sweating in that dark freezing cold building, stumbling on the stairs, it occurred to me that no guy who loves his girlfriend would ever expect her to do something like that, but I brushed the thought away because I was in love and insecure and recovering from a very unloving severely abusive childhood. It took me one whole year of ever intensifying abuse to escape this MF. He held me prisoner threatening to kill me if I tried to leave. Eventually, after one unsucessful try, miserable and terrified, I did anyway.
Seeing that building again made me especially angry because my boyfriend's excuse was that they were tearing down the Maynard Building the next day. Seeing that it had never been torn down brought it all back for me.
I know, that is not "stupid" but then I think all emotional reactions and panic attack have a reason for happening and are not really stupid, though I'll admit it did not take me too long to regain my sense of humor realizing how funny I must look jumping up and down and screaming with rage about a building I'd labored in back in 1965.
SW-User
@greenmountaingal damn :-O Sorry that happened to you, but glad you're able to laugh at it now. 🤗
GallantlyChurlish · 51-55, M
I don’t think that’s dumb. Maybe you just imagined the memories it held.
SW-User
@GallantlyChurlish I did, actually. But still..