1.

“Really loud music drives me up a wall. I sometimes have to go home early if the bar we are at is too crowded. I lived in Manhattan for a year and was constantly panicking. I had to move to Queens because I needed it to be quiet enough that I could sleep without hyperventilating.” — John, 33

2.

“Actually, darkness makes me really anxious, and so does really bright light. Sometimes I’ll feel overwhelmed with anxiety and won’t really understand what brought it on. When that happens, it’s typically because I subconsciously reacted to the fact that a room was too dim, or like, headache-inducingly bright.” — Kara, 26

3.

“Choking. I’m deathly afraid of choking. I have to have water with every meal, and I have to sit it right next to me when I go to bed. No one has ever asked about it, so I’ve never told anyone.” — Janie, 22

4.

“For me, sirens really bother me. When I was young, I was taken to the hospital a lot for a year straight because of some health risks (that, thank goodness, they figured out). But when I hear a siren, I still feel that panic, like I have no idea what is about to happen. It’s awful, and it happens a lot.” — Karen, 24

5.

“PLANES. I’m an incredibly anxious flyer, but most relaxants (like Xanax), I’m too scared to even take. Just like when I was at college, I was too scared to smoke, because I’m scared it’ll make me more anxious. I know that’s irrational, but that’s kind of why I don’t tell anyone. Telling people you’re scared of flying is infuriating, because they just start spewing statistics about how you’re being ridiculous.” — Elliot, 25

6.

“I can’t get manicures because I’m terrified of nail files. I think it’s pretty clear why I don’t want to tell people.” — Emma, 22

7.

“I am very scared of the dark, even in my late 20s. I’m not exactly sure why, but even when my family moved to a country home as a kid for a year, I was so uncomfortable about the fact that it was so dark outside my window at night. For me, moving to a big city actually helped, because there are always lights on somewhere if you’re in the heart of the city.” — Aya, 29

8.

“This might sound morbid, but I have a lot of fears about dying. When I hear about death, it really upsets me, and I’ll go through patterns where hearing other people’s bad news throws me off for an entire day or two.” — Lindsey, 30

9.

“Rats, rodents, all tiny animals. Someone once saw a mouse in my apartment, and I had to sleep somewhere else for two weeks, and made up an excuse to my roommates.” — Julianne, 24

10.

“I’m emataphobic, which means I’m really scared of vomiting. I haven’t thrown up since I was about 10 years old. It’s the reason I don’t drink very much, but I’ve never told anyone.” — Heather, 26

11.

“I tend to visualize really bad scenarios and then can’t get them out of my head. It’s actually a big problem, because it really affects me and makes me so much less present, because I’m often wrapped up in my own upsetting but irrational thoughts.” — Alexa, 24

12.

“I’m anxious about irrational events. Like, I’m not the type of person who gets anxious because they have a bad boss who makes them feel panicky. No, I’m the one who has severe anxiety about like, getting in a car accident even though I don’t drive, being in a plane crash, getting a snake bite. Basically just things that aren’t likely to happen really paralyze me with fear.” — Lilly, 23

13.

“I get really anxious about the future, but I rarely feel like I can verbalize it. I don’t know where I will be in a year – whether my S.O. and I will still be together, if I’ll still have a job, what I would do if I didn’t.” — Mike, 25

14.

“Tires screeching. It messes with my head and makes me jump out of my skin.” — Lorraine, 46

15.

“I have a lot of appearance-related anxieties. I get really stressed about how my skin looks on a certain day, or if I think my hair is frizzing out when I’m out at a bar, I’ll leave. I don’t tell people, because they just think it sounds so trivial, and I don’t want to hear it.” — Roxanne, 29

16.

“I’ve noticed I’m really anxious about one-on-one time with anyone. People assume I’m social because I can do group settings pretty much anytime, but if I’m just with one other person, I just feel like I’m in the hot sea. It’s been a problem for me while trying to date, and even while trying to just keep close friends.” — Johanna, 22

17.

“Not loud noises, but sharp or screeching noises make me so anxious. If I hear tires squeal, I’m a nervous wreck for the next few hours.” — Kelsey, 37

18.

“I can’t help but be super anxious about what other people think. I’ll meet someone and be over analyzing something I said to them five days later.” — Jake, 24

19.

“I have separation anxiety, so when I am far away from family or my boyfriend, I’ll be really nervous about their whereabouts, and I can tell they get sick of my constant phone calls, but we haven’t really talked about the root cause of why I get so anxious.” — Mary, 25

20.

“Nothing makes me more anxious on an airplane than a crying baby.” — Eric, 28

21.

“I have a really hard time with my anxiety when everyone around me is sick, because I’m a bit of a hypochondriac. On the one hand, I don’t want to show people how freaked out I am that they’ll make me sick, but I also sometimes can’t help it.” — Kayla, 32

22.

“I have a lot of relationship anxiety, because I don’t know where we are going to be staying together or not. And that’s not an anxiety you want to bring up, but it’s also one that really sticks with you, and that I’ve been really struggling with for about six months.” — Tania, 27

23.

“Natural disasters. I live in California, and as a transplant, I have constant panic attacks about earthquakes.” — JC, 20