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I once was afraid of spiders. Not quite to the screaming for help stage, but really pretty afraid. Then I had my red-headed son. I looked at that kid lying in my arms and realized that one day he was going to come running in saying, "Look what I found, Mom!" And he was going to dump a spider <yick!> into my hand. And to avoid traumatizing my son (or giving him something to tease me with) I was going to have to say, "Oh - look! What a nice big spider you have caught! How about taking it back and putting it where it can play with it's friends?" and hand it back to him.
At that realization, I began to deliberately de-sensitize myself to spiders. By the time he actually did that (yes, he really did!), I was able to look at it, point out the 8 eyes and 8 legs, identify it as a "jumping" spider, and hand it back to him. He was disappointed - seems the mother of one of his friends had a hissy fit when he brought a spider to her and he thought it would be "cool" to see how I would react! I've even gotten to the point I can pick up a big tarantula and let it walk on my arm and hand. I still don't "like" them, the way I like snakes, but I managed to get over my terror.
The ol' curmudgeon refuses to "deal" with ****roaches. Since we live in the south and the "Palmetto bugs" come in whenever the ivy gets too deep, I'm the one who has to chase them down, spray them, squish them and flush them.
We used to live in neighborhood with rats, and they got into the cellar and set up housekeeping. Have you any idea how fast those varmits multiply??? He wouldn't empty the traps. I had to do it. Got pretty good at it, too, by the way!!
I have worked my way through my fears about spiders through reading about them, then viewing them from a "safe" distance, and gradually getting closer and closer so I could describe their features. Finally, I got to the point I could handle them. That study helped me learn to identify the spiders to realistically respect and "fear," and those that are harmless. Now, this is my way of dealing with things I fear. Other people use other methods. If the fear "works" for you, is functional, then ignore it. But if you are concerned about it, you will need to figure out how to get over it, and what will work for you.
Cheerio!
Elizabeth
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~*~ EXPERTS
Experts have
their expert fun
ex cathedra
telling one
just how nothing
can be done. ~*~
~*~ Piet Hein - Grooks ~*~
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