[RisuNeko]

For as long as I can remember i have had a phobia of hot things. For instance I won't stand within 15 feet of a camping fire, I won't go near a cooking stove or oven. I most certainly will not put anything in or out of the oven. I don't like toasters. I put ice in my coffee, I'm afraid of stoves even when they're clearly off because I'm afriad someone will bump into them and turn them on. I don't like taking hot dishes out of the dishwasher.

I've only been burned once on a pizza pan and it only blistered a little.

I found out last year that my mom says my fear comes from when I was a little kid at daycare and my babysitter would throw water onto a teakettle for the sound it would make and it would scare the living daylights out of me. I have no memory of this. I must have blocked it out.

Can anyone else relate to a fear of hot things? It's quite disruptive as it means no cooking other than the microwave. i've adapted to the microwave because I can keep things cool to a certain degree. It's also embarrassing at work as I work in a house caring for the elderly and i do a lot of the kitchen work (at least I'm supposed to).

Sharp things make me a little nervous. I'm super careful with knives. I will never put them into a sink full of water. I won't put my hand into the trash disposal to retrieve something even if it's clearly turned off.

If I break a glass, there's gonna be a half-hour clean-up operation involving gloves, broom, dustpan, vacuum cleaner, and sometimes a flashlight.

I suppose we don't come into contact with sharp things in daily life as often as we do hot things.

My anxiety and extra carefulness around sharp objects come from a childhood incident, too. I was three and broke a cup and somehow cut a big hunk of skin out of my wrist and had to have lots of stitches. I don't even remember the accident.