Phobias can destroy your life. You usually have no say in the matter as well.

Genetics determine 25%-65% of what phobias you have. So if your mom or dad or even your grandparents have a fear of apples, you’re more likely to be scared of them too. In a test performed with mice, scientists associated a shock with an orange blossom scent. The children and grandchildren of these mice showed a response of fear to the smell, even though they had never been exposed to it before. They also had more neurons to detect the smell of orange blossom.

Your past experiences can also determine what phobias you have. For example, if you wore white jeans to school and sat down on ketchup, you might have a ketchup phobia (Mortuusequusphobia). Or if all of a sudden a shoe comes flying out of nowhere and hits you in the head, you might have shoe phobia (Linonophobia).

There are some phobias a person can have that can ruin their careers. Given, being scared of apples probably won’t ruin your career, but a fear of flying can (Aerophobia). Workers who have to travel and commute long distances for work on a plane have to endure extreme anxiety just so they can get their paycheck. There’s also a fear of work- (which I’m sure most of us have by the end of the school year,especially seniors), and it’s called Ergophobia (A.K.A. Senioritis, maybe? Just kidding.) Ergophobia isn’t just not wanting to do work because you don’t feel like it, it’s actually being scared of work because of social anxiety issues. Phobias are worse than the normal,”stereotypical” fears, such as ghosts, monsters, etc. because phobias have to be dealt with everyday due to their common occurrence in our lives.

Sophomore Reana Na is scared of celery. I asked her why. “I don’t like the smell and how it looks alive-ish once you put it in water. Mainly the smell, it makes me want to throw up.” Sophomore Kaavya Sethumadhavan is terrified of tomatoes. She was driving with her family in Madrid, and they stopped to walk around. There was a tomato vendor on the side of the street, and her brother went to it and began to pelt her with tomatoes. Ever since that day, she’s been traumatized.

So do you have any weird fears? Maybe it’s all in your genes.