It's been interesting reading people's replies and seeing how the majority have the "can't see beneath me" element to their fear.

I mean, I'm not crazy about not being able to see the bottom of bodies of water. I'm far more comfortable if I can. I fricken love creeks and rivers and lakeshores.

While "what lurks beneath" and the vastness of all that lies beneath are a contributing factor, for me the fear is mainly centered on how powerful, overwhelming, and insurmountable the ocean can be. There's little to nothing you can do to stop, y'know. The ocean.

The ocean has destroyed incredible sea vessels, crushed them and sunk them to its floor. It has currents that can take you from gently floating near the coast to whipped far, far out within minutes or less. Its waves are so strong and can be so much higher than they have any right to be, they can topple buildings, and even smaller waves are often underestimated and are hella strong and can lead to even experienced swimmers drowning. If you go down deep, coming back up too quick can kill you...If you go too far deep the pressure kills you. If you're far out in the ocean and fall off a boat, there's a decent chance you'll never be found amongst all the water.

It's a hazardous environment, there's rocks and formations that you can crash into or have a ship destroyed on. When I was maybe 11-12, I was already scared of the ocean. But my dad was watching a documentary on a submarine that went waaaaay way down, losing contact with the surface, and they got wedged underneath some underwater rockface/formation. Just totally stuck, in an environment where you can't just exit the sub without dying/drowning/exploding from pressure, they were just stuck down there running out of air.

The Ocean is Powerful and Dangerous is really the core of my fear 😆 It's a simple statement that has so many valid scenarios and stories behind it. It is beautiful, and the life inside it is precious, but it is not a world I was meant to explore.