Dying. If it's so scary, then why does everybody do it?

Cities

Ending capitalism to embrace a system where we end poverty, consumerism and discriminations.

Public speaking. I've seen surveys where more people are afraid of speaking in front of an audience than they are of dying, which is utterly insane. For the vast, vast majority of scenarios where you might find yourself speaking to a group of people, the risk level is very low. Likewise, in the vast majority of cases, few people are likely to remember much about your performance. It's just talking.

Spiders (USA).

Most spiders are harmless to humans and even beneficial to have around.

Asking someone out on a date.

I had social anxiety for years, so I probably struggled with this more than most. But it's surprisingly easy. And more often than not, if your instincts are that that person likes you, you're usually right.

Linux. It's more the same than different and everyone learns fast :)

Universal healthcare. So scary only 33 of the world's 34 most modernized countries have managed to make it work.

Math, Haskell, and software engineering in general.

Traveling to a foreign country.

I haven't done as much as a millionaire traveler but I have touched 30 countries and directly explored about 20 of them. I got to see wealthy first world Europe, as well as Morocco, Egypt, South America in Peru and a whole bunch of southeast Asia and India and Sri Lanka. Not to mention road trips in Canada and parts of the US west coast and east coast.

I got to see a lot of dirt poor slums and really rough places.

I don't drink nor do I do drugs because I'm in recovery myself (30 years sober) .. and what I discovered is that once you remove any and all illegal behavior, drugs and alcohol, the majority of people everywhere in the world are decent people like you and me who are just trying to get by. Sure they want your money and some people are desperate but touristic places usually attract seedy people anyway. Regular common people away from tourist places are just getting by and they really don't care who you are.

This is all within the realm of being realistic too ... you don't go wandering down a lonely alleyway on your own or go into a dark sleazy noisy bar. I'm just saying that as long as you are safe and others are safe, people the world over are no different than you and me.

Root canals. The procedure has come a long way since the 90s and is relatively smooth and painless now. Obviously having a good and skillful edodontist also helps, but it’s no longer excruciating like decades ago.

Skydiving

Yes, the first few times are intimidating. Hence why most students do their first few jumps tandem and then with a Jump Master after that.

After that though, you'll be looking out the window of the plane and seeing just how much air there is to play in. As you gain experience, you will internalize the fact you're safer in free fall, than you are on the airplane.

Australian animals.

Americans are the absolute worst at it and it's just so stupid. Yes we have poisonous snakes and spiders, so does America.

We have more of them than America, yes.

You know what we don't have? Large predators. You can go walking in the bush in Australia and you might see one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. You know what you do? You don't fuck with it and continue on with your business.

You're walking in America and oh, you've just stumbled across one of the multiple species of bears, coyotes, wolves, cougars etc. Animals that may chase you down and maul you. It's not even a competition.

And you, as an American, might say 'oh but you pretty much never see them'. Yeah same with dangerous snakes etc in Australia.

Living in the Matrix. If you do what they want, you get to taste steak.

Needles.

The heat death of the universe.

You literally don't need to worry about it at all. You won't be there for it when it happens.

Minorities.

The sun imploding in the next few billions years. I've had conversations about that that I could see in the person's eyes that they were getting really scared about it.

hunger.

I don't mean starvation I mean there are people that cannot sit with a slight uncomfortable feeling of hunger. If you have eaten enough to fuel your body in a healthy way then being slightly hungry will not harm you.

Fire eating. It's super dangerous so there's a lot of safety protocol you must follow. But when it comes time to actually do it, most of the difficulty is psychological

(I'm an instructor)