avoistil
noun
A fear that discourages people from particular courses of action, but once confronted is revealed to be entirely baseless and easily overcome.
For the longest time, Elsie had avoided cooking anything more complicated than a microwave dinner, convinced that she would set things on fire if she tried to use the oven. When she finally gave it a try, she realized the worry over the oven had been an avoistil all along - the oven was easy to use and she had a hard time remembering why she’d been scared in the first place.