How to Handle a Tarantula When You Have Arachnophobia
There is a major difference between those who are arachnophobes and the rest of the world who simply dislike spiders. Of course, there’s those crazy types that actually like spiders. 
I am an arachnophobe and so my nature is to dislike spiders, but it goes much further than that. We arachnophobes live in a world where spiders lurk behind every corner. They lie in wait on the ceiling over the couch or the bed waiting for just the right moment to dangle inches from our faces on their sticky, silky threads. They lurk among the papers of my cluttered desk, and when I least expect it, they’ll charge across my keyboard like a streaker at a football game. I can’t clean out a basement, garage or closet without keeping a watchful, nervous eye out for anything that creeps or crawls or scurries on eight legs. My nightly routine before going to bed consists of scanning the corners of my bedroom ceiling and checking around the window frames for spiders. This routine has become such a part of my subconscious that I don’t even realize I’m doing it. My wife gives me an inquisitive look on occasion wondering what the hell I’m looking for.
Now I know it’s silly to be terrified of spiders. While I’m in the grips of paralyzing terror, uncontrollable shivering and the sensation that I have a thousand spiders crawling on me, I know my fear is downright ridiculous. I used to feel that there was absolutely nothing I could do and would have to live my life this way. My greatest fear was about what would happen if I was driving my car and a spider ran across my steering wheel.
When I got the chance to meet a coworker’s pet tarantula a couple years ago, I hesitantly agreed to go look at it. What I didn’t realize until I was at his cubicle was that he was holding the thing in his hands. I looked around at my other coworkers who were gathered around with smiles on their faces. They knew about my arachnophobia. I knew what was going on. It was time to face my fear. (Never tell friends, family or coworkers what you’re afraid of. They WILL use it against you someday!)
I could have freaked out and ran back to my desk. But I didn’t want to. I actually wanted to hold this spider that was almost the size of my hand, and feel the exhilaration of facing my fear. I asked my coworker if I could let it crawl across my hands.
My coworker gently placed his hands next to mine and the spider (I don’t remember what her name was) slowly crept from his hands to mine. My knees were shaking. My body was stiff. I was breathing hard and fast. The only thing I can remember was watching intently as the tarantula slowly made it’s way across my outstretched, right hand and crossing over onto my left hand. It’s feet were sticky. It was lighter than it looked. After a few seconds, I frantically told my coworker to take the spider.
I couldn’t bring myself to pet her, but I was proud of my accomplishment. It’s a little thing. Not the greatest achievement of my life. But I’m proud of the way I forced myself to have the experience of facing my fear without taking the easy route and chickening out. I had more to gain from the experience of handling a tarantula and more to loose from simply giving into fear.
While my tarantula experience has not completely cured my fear of spiders, I learned that I do have a choice in how I deal with fears, even irrational ones. I can either choose to grow and face my fears or I can refuse to grow and hold myself back from having a better life. The easy path leads to stagnation, but the hard one opens up new possibilities.
Are your fears holding you back? Is it time to make the decision to face your terror and grow?
