My fears are their fears?!

A few days ago Jordan posted on her blog about fears and phobias, and how we as writers transmit them to our characters. And I thought, "Nah. That isn't me." In my mind I let my characters be who they want to be (strengths and weaknesses), never manipulate them like some writers do. So I never thought my characters could be afraid of the same things I do. Perhaps I had transmitted them unconsciously? I found this so interesting that I quickly decided to try a little experiment/research on my own. First, I made a list of my fears: 1. Fear of heights 2. Fear of crowded places 3. A bit of claustrophobia 4. Fear of roaches and frogs 5. Fear of being without money Then I pulled out the CD where I keep copies of all the stories I've written and opened each file. I read each story keeping in mind my list of fears. Nope. None of my characters are scared of heights. Actually some even love to fly, and the higher the better. They feel comfortable in large crowds. No claustrophobics. None of my heroines are scared of roaches. I couldn't find a single one of my fear projected into my characters. But I didn't give up so easily. I figured they had to be there somewhere perhaps in a subtle way, so I kept looking, keeping an eye even on the secondary characters. Again nothing. I was beginning to wonder if there was really nothing there. However, the more I analyzed (and over-analyzed) my characters, I did find a common trait shared by all my female characters. They are afraid to lose their independence and sense of self if they commit to a relationship. In other words, my heroines aren't the type to bend backwards for any man. If he thinks one of them will give up their dreams or their lifestyle for him, they've got another thing coming. Yep, they don't compromise. My heroines are strong women. You know when your mother told you couldn't have the cake and eat it too? Well, my heroines want the whole cake and want to eat it too. For them, compromising is a 50-50 thing. If the hero isn't capable of compromising, or accepting them as they are and allow them their independence, then he isn't the man for my heroine. No wonder I put those poor heroes into situations in which at the end they have to choose between whether to stay with the heroine or look for someone more pliant. *lol* Hmm... Another interesting thing I discovered through this little experiment was how my fears became strenghts in my characters. For instance, I'm afraid of heights. Actually I suffer from vertigo. Yet none of my characters do. Most of them like to fly or climb high places. Am I living through them in this aspect? I've come to the conclusion that yes. Is there a common trait in your characters, one that you could point out and say, this keeps repeating itself? Do you find yourself getting rid of your fears through your characters?