Don't open the door

[DebbieDowner]

Why is that what races through my head whenever someone knocks on my door?!

It's pretty sad, but I have a minor panic attack EVERY time I hear knocking, even if it's on a door down the hall...I've only actually answered my door once when I wasn't expecting someone, since I've lived alone..which has been a while now...sometimes I'll sit completely silent until I'm sure whoever was there is long gone. Because of this I never have packages delivered to my apartment, I have them sent to my parent's home more than an hour away...talk about irrational.

I mean, I guess my fear isn't completely unfounded...I'm a girl living alone in a big city...and I blacked out my peephole in order to make my entryway a darkroom so I can't actually check to see if it's a psycho killer or not...lol I think I'm officially on my way to being a crazy hermit lady...

But the thing that drives me completely insane is afterward, wondering for days WHO the hell was actually at my door?? Was it a neighbor? I've never even met my neighbors. I live in a secured building so you can't get in unless you have a key or someone buzzes you in...so who could it be??...Once right after my car had been broken into someone knocked on my door late that night, so of course I thought it some kind of car thief/burglar/stalker who had followed me home and I stayed awake the entire night freaked out...so pathetic.

Has anyone else ever felt like this? Or am I just completely insane??

 

[Silvox Black]

You are far from insane. Have you perhaps considered that you attribute your fear of someone knocking on the door with some past experience of a knock on the door followed by an unhappy or stressful event? It is also quite logical you would fear such a thing, seeing as how crime is rampant in the city. Perhaps you should greet your neighbors?

 

[Kat]

I do get panicky if people knock on the door at my house I won’t always answer it and I try to look outside a window or somewhere I can see them but they can’t see me. Our house door isn’t very secure either which doesn’t help because you can see right into the living room area from the front door, sometimes the unwanted visitors can catch me out trying to walk in the other direction to avoid answering the door.

I guess you can draw some security in the fact it’s a secure building and people have to buzz you before they come in. In some respects you have the upper hand there. I am not sure what else you could do other then try and break the pattern of anxiety that happens when people knock on the door by doing things that will help calm you and try and keep your mind of it.

I know it’s not easy I still get anxiety when people knock on the door and there’s nothing I can really do other then let it pass, it usually doesn’t last long for me.

 

[scarletlee]

My heart jumps out of my chest when i hear a knock on the door. It doesn't happen often though. If i answer it i'm all panicky and untogether, i think it's because i'm caught off guard, kind of like when i bump into someone in the street, i'm totally unprepared for it and usually freak out

 

[reslo]

i know how you feel! i hate hearing the doorbell ring! anxiety shoots through the roof.. yeah i've done what you done wait it out... there have been times where i just curled up in a fetal position and just kept whispering please go away please go away :/ it really depends on my mood if i'll answer the door to a stranger. usually when i do, it's solicitors/mormons/kids having a fundraiser. i've realized that the anguish of worrying who was at the door and whether or not they've left (that's the scary part) is a lot worse than just getting it over with and answering it... and there have been times where a relative was like "i knocked on your door, your car was there, but i didn't get any answer" ohhhh ummm.... lol. and it's the same with phone calls from an unlisted number- they scare me- i don't always answer, and then if they don't leave a message, i get that unsettling feeling for days like why did they call me?!?! and i can't stop worrying about it, so i've been trying to answer more often because again the anxiety of not knowing is usually worse for me than answering.

also, too, i've noticed that if i've had a really bad day, no way am i answering the phone/door. i totally get why you'd have packages delivered somewhere else- the sound of my doorbell just sends my heart beating through my chest. i always feel like im moving in slow motion when i answer the door... i usually take a deep breath, and remember that it's probably just a solicitor, and if i don't answer, they may come back, or how will i know when they LEAVE unless i answer the door.

as a woman living alone in the city, i can see why you wouldn't want to answer. it's your place, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. and don't let anybody in that you don't want to- it's YOUR place, not theirs, you are the guard of your own domain. i would think people would leave notes or something if they needed to get back to you. and whatever, for all they know, you were in the shower or something.

 

[PrettyBoy]

Yer me too im always thinking please don't let it be for me. I also think that I might be in some sort of trouble so i panic about that too. Then when i hear my sisters voice etc its like a feeling of relief. Im kind of used to all this though you are probably used to it too I think we adapt to it over time. If we can manage to get over this **** and you hear a knock on the door an feel urged to answer it or even excited to who it may be then that would be victory.

 

[Hellhound]

I don't mind it when someone knocks the door, I don't feel afraid... I would probably feel a little afraid if it happened in a moment when I'm not really expecting visits at all, when I'm sure that no one would come here, like late at night for example. I don't think I'd panic though, I'd probably get the thought that something bad happened or I'd doubt of opening the door in case it's a thief or something.

 

[xSleepy]

I have the same problem! I think it went from annoyance to fear though.

First just random people who were maybe trying to sell things would come, or UPS. Then my drunken dad would come over banging on my door, which scared the crap out of me. then some weirdo came to my house thinking i was someone who i wasnt and he was acting kinda crazy. Both of those things resulted in the police coming over. So that really increased my fear and paranoia about someone knocking on the door. If it werent for those things happening im sure I would still have anxiety over answering the door, it just wouldnt be as severe as it is now.

I also think my parents had something to do with this problem. Like telling me at a young age "DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR FOR ANYONE EVER! THERE ARE BAD PEOPLE OUT THERE!"

So I guess I get anxiety over the social aspect of answering the door. I gotta talk to whoever it is behind the door if I decide to open it... not knowing who the person is or what they want doenst really give me any way to prepare what to say or do for them. Id have to do on the spot thinking and talking!.. which i suck at when im nervous.
I also get anxiety wondering if it will be some crazy person at my door or someone who might try to harm me in some way. I think that fear is actually kinda rational, depending on where you live I guess.

 

[206Raider]

Yeah I have gotten nervous about opening the door when somebody knocks becuase one time I was home alone and I was like 13 and there was like 7 people knocking on my door and walking around my house looking in the windows, they looked like they wanted trouble and I'm thinking it was something my sister or brother got into becase it's happened before so I stayed in my room but I don't worry in this neighborhood, but if it's early in the morning I won't answer becuase I'm tired and it's 90% fo the time somebody trying to sell me something. Last time I did that it was like 8am and this person kept ringing the doorbell over and over and over so I figured it must be something important but I go to the door and it's like a 5 yr old kid asking if my little brother was home to come play with him. So that was funny.