Irrational fears

As most people I have some irrational fears (also knowns as phobias or anxiety disorders). Two of them come to mind when I think about it. Aquaphobia and anxiety about talking on the phone.

Aquaphobia is a fear of water. The reason why it's not called hydrophobia (which would be the correct way to say it since most fears are named in Greek) is that the last stage of rabies is already called that and to avoid confusion it's better to called it aquaphobia. In me it's not a fear of all kinds of water. It's more specifically large bodies of water, such as rivers, swimming pools, lakes, oceans and so on. I can walk up to and even out into an ocean but when the water is starting to get high enough so that my head could, but not necessarily would, get under water if I sat down I start getting anxious. I have learned to swim, about 30 years ago, but my head was so far up that I think my neck would be completely dry afterwards. If someone would joke about pushing me into a pool I would get a panic attack and possibly end up hurting that person. When I say "joke about pushing me into a pool" I mean that I would walk near a pool and someone would pretend that they were about to push me but really not.

Onto the telephones. I can talk on the phone in a few different situations.
1. If I'm at home alone when the phone rings.
2. If I'm at home and I know the person calling.
3. If I'm at home (preferably alone) and I call someone I know well.
What gives me anxiety attacks is when someone else is around and I have to answer the phone. It gets even worse if there are people I don't know around. Also, whenever I have to call someone I don't know or not know well. The absolute worst thing is calling someone I don't know and have never talked to. I can walk around the apartment for up to an hour before I even pick up the phone to dial the number. To be honest I'm starting to get a bit anxious now just thinking about it. And yes I do often ask others if they could call for me, or ask the person I need to contact if I can e-mail or send text messages instead of calling.