Day 6: What Is My Biggest Phobia/Fear?

Arachnids. Yep. Spiders. I can't stand them. I have almost wrecked my car because there was a spider inside of it. I have no idea why or when I developed the phobia. I am almost as bad about bees.  People tell you to stand still so the bee won't sting you. I'm here to tell you that's a lie! Running saves lives! I've always ran and I have NEVER been stung (knocking on wood).

I don't know why I have an irrational fear of spiders. I actually do attain super human speed and strength when I see one.  I know my fear was definitely reinforced the first time I saw someone after they had survived a brown recluse bite, very similar to the one in the photo below.

After viewing those photos, you can definitely see that my fear is completely justified. The scary part about brown recluse bites is that they usually end up doing the above. It's like a baby shark bite! This spider's venom is actually more toxic than rattlesnake venom, except it excretes it in such small doses, that the only humans to die from its bites are usually children, and even that's rare.

This spider causes such a terrible wound because its venom contains enzymes that essentially kill your tissue and it dies, or becomes "necrotic." Gross! These bites usually need surgical intervention, and can leave you with gaping deformed wounds/scars.

Don't even get me started on this little bad mamma jamma right here!

The black widow!

I did try to conquer my fear once. I tried living with a spider, or rather letting a spider live in my vicinity (meaning the garage). I did it for 2 months. I let the large black spider live quietly undisturbed in the corner of my garage. That is until I saw egg sacs one day---and the bottom of HER stomach which had the red hourglass...So yeah, the one time I tried arachnid amnesty, it was with a friggin' black widow! Needless to say, I had to "terminate" our living arrangement.

The Black Widow's Not so Distant Cousin:

The Brown Widow (a little less known...maybe it's the "ugly cousin")

The above spiders' bite can render such symptoms as: abdominal pain (very similar to appendicitis) dizziness, chest pain (very similar to a heart attack), tremors, vomiting, etc.

Now, with all of the evidence I just provided, I'm pretty sure my fear is justified. I'm just sayin'!  :)