I am deathly afraid of all reptiles, but of them all, snakes are definitely the most unnerving kind. I can’t even look directly at a picture of snakes, let alone face them in real life. I simply convulse at their spine-chilling sight. I do not remember this happening, but I heard that a snake bit me when I was little. I guess this unconscious memory seared into my mind somehow and led me to form this fear of snakes.

 

   I feel the most fear when I find myself helpless in the face of discrimination and violence. The disappointment, anger, and sadness I feel when I cannot muster up the courage to do the right thing haunts me for a lifetime. In elementary school, I was ostracized as a kid. In high school, I witnessed the immoralities of my teachers. And finally in college, a close friend of mine committed suicide after a long and harsh struggle of living as a sexual minority. These tragic incidents left me feeling completely defenseless and debilitated. Ironically, however, these fateful moments have motivated me to become a better person, and have become the source of my dreams.

 

   I truly detest anchovies. I shudder at the taste, smell, and sight of them. I just find it utterly distasteful to eat an entire fish in one mouthful. I hate it to the point that one might describe it as almost an irrational fear. Everybody in my family except me loves anchovies, though. So every time the fridge reeks of the smell of anchovies, I just feel my day has been ruined. Once, when I went to church, they served anchovies at lunch and the teachers forced me to finish my meal. I forced myself to eat the anchovies but as soon as that disgusting food touched my mouth, I headed straight to the bathroom and threw up.

 

   I have thought about this question a lot, and realized that I have various fears, such as fear of failure or injury. But out of all my different fears, my worst nightmare is when I disappoint others. So I try my very best to meet others’ expectations, even when I do not particularly want to do so. Looking back, I would try to perform my very best even on the dullest homework, so as not to disappoint my teacher. When I was spending another year preparing for college I did not want to let my family down, so I studied arduously. Even when I was in a relationship, I did my best to make time for him, putting aside my own priorities. Of course, this fear of letting people down only applies to the ones that I love and cherish the most. I think this type of fear really made me the person that I am today.

 

   Zombies and scary movies. Especially scary movies with zombies in them. I can’t even look directly at an illustration of a zombie. When I went to watch the recent zombie movie, Train to Busan, I spent more than half of the running time covering my eyes and flailing my legs in the air. Last Halloween, a friend of mine showed up with this disturbingly graphic and gory costume of a zombie and I completely freaked out. All ghosts and supernatural beings are frightening, but zombies are the worst. I guess it’s because zombie movies are just too realistic.