Antaus
12-14-2016, 02:26 PM
I registered here to ask a question about Arachnophobia, which I've had most of my life. I don't understand the source of my phobia because I've never had an otherwise bad experience with spiders, yet I'm extremely afraid of them. What puzzles me is also how afraid of them I am, which appears to apply itself in degrees depending on the situation at hand. If I see a spider I generally try to avoid it, with considerable effort. It's not to the point of leaping on chairs or going onto a panic attacks, and that's when I see them coming.
There is one specific instance I remember from some years ago when I was in my mid-teens. I was at my grandmother's and I was laying on the floor on my stomach. I was doodling in a notebook and watching TV. For contextual reference, I was laying parallel to the coffee table, and there was a couch on the other side with a ceiling fan above me. I felt a gentle tap on my neck and I reached up brushing at it, when I did a wolf spider about the size of a half-dollar hit my notebook. To this day I do not remember clearing the coffee table and landing on the couch. Obviously it fell from the ceiling fan above me.
I also have a very analytical mind which is capable of exerting itself over irrational reactions if I have time to see the situation before it happens. What I mean by this, is despite being extremely scared of spiders, I can force myself to deal with them. A friend wanted to introduce me to his pet tarantula once which, at his house, he had in a box. I didn't come unglued because he told me what was in the box before opening it, and let it out on the coffee table where were sitting. The spider crawled toward my left hand and I managed to suppress my fear to the point of not removing my hand, or looking for something to hit the spider with. Regardless I was very uncomfortable and tense. Oddly it tapped my hand with a front leg, but wouldn't climb onto it. Makes me wonder if spiders really can sense fear.
There is one specific instance I remember from some years ago when I was in my mid-teens. I was at my grandmother's and I was laying on the floor on my stomach. I was doodling in a notebook and watching TV. For contextual reference, I was laying parallel to the coffee table, and there was a couch on the other side with a ceiling fan above me. I felt a gentle tap on my neck and I reached up brushing at it, when I did a wolf spider about the size of a half-dollar hit my notebook. To this day I do not remember clearing the coffee table and landing on the couch. Obviously it fell from the ceiling fan above me.
I also have a very analytical mind which is capable of exerting itself over irrational reactions if I have time to see the situation before it happens. What I mean by this, is despite being extremely scared of spiders, I can force myself to deal with them. A friend wanted to introduce me to his pet tarantula once which, at his house, he had in a box. I didn't come unglued because he told me what was in the box before opening it, and let it out on the coffee table where were sitting. The spider crawled toward my left hand and I managed to suppress my fear to the point of not removing my hand, or looking for something to hit the spider with. Regardless I was very uncomfortable and tense. Oddly it tapped my hand with a front leg, but wouldn't climb onto it. Makes me wonder if spiders really can sense fear.