Face to face with a spider

I am a person who is afraid of many things, phenomenons and situations. In this post I would like to describe one of my biggest fears.

I'm sure that most of you, if not all of you, know what arachnophobia is. But have you ever been affected by this fear? I know this phobia very well. I think my case isn't the most serious one but my fear is rather strong. I don't feel the usual disgust for spiders. I feel really bad and I'm terrified when even a small eight legged creature is near me. I'm also afraid of spiderwebs and sometimes I wonder if they aren't maybe more horrifying. Does it seem strange? I can explain that. Seeing a spider I can control its location, observe its behaviour and predict its actions. It allows me to take action to defend myself against the enemy. When I see a spiderweb and don't see any spider I know that it is somewhere near me but I have no way to control it and in practice it can be everywhere. As well on my back or, even worse, ugh... on my head!

Some people tell me that my fear is unmotivated and absurd but it is the real nature of a phobia. What's more, it is obvious that some species of spiders are dangerous. A few years ago I was bitten by a spider and even if it wasn't a deadly tarantula it hurt and I couldn't walk for three days because my whole leg was swollen.

Being a child I wasn't afraid of spiders. The fear was aroused by a specific situation. One day my four years younger brother caught a spider in our basement and decided to keep it. He even gave it a name Miśka. It was a female of the species Tenegaria domestica and it was very big! Its body with legs covered the surface of 1-liter jar. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if my brother had been keeping it in a suitable and closed container. But he had not. That time he slept in my room and before falling asleep he always took out Miśka from the container and stroke it like a cat or dog. One night he probably fell asleep without putting the spider back to the container. In the early morning I woke up and saw Miśka right beside my face on the pillow! I started to shout and run around the room. It was a real panic! Since that day I am terribly afraid of spiders.