From Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words) to Arachibutyrophobia (the fear of peanut butter being stuck to the roof of your mouth), I think the phobia of a small 8-legged arachnid paying you a visit while you’re eating food or taking a shower is much scarier.
I have to admit I wasn’t always afraid of spiders, when I considered them just other bugs. However, this all changed when my sister did a project on spiders.
She made a model spider the size of my head, all with eight, long, hairy legs and glossy, eight eyes. From the day I saw her spider, I’ve never seen the eight-legged creatures in the same light.
Who would want to be around a spider anyway? They have eight legs to grab onto you, with eight, large eyes so they don’t miss their opportunity to bite you.
Also, what about the fact that a funnel-well spider can kill you in as little as 15 minutes with one bite? Who would want to be near that?
Sure, some spiders only bite if provoked, but knowing that some have the power to kill makes me want to stay away.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that some people love spiders and enjoy studying them, but I don’t like when they pay me a visit while I’m trying to relax or when I’m taking a shower.
My sister’s tactic to handle these disproportionate creatures is to crush them while they’re crawling on the ceiling of our bathroom, leaving their remains behind as a warning to their friends.
My latest encounter with a spider was last week, when I cleaned my room after I had left clothes and dirty dishes piled up. As I was finalizing my room, I grabbed the last stack of bowls and between two of the bowls there was a spider.
When I moved the bowl out of the way, the spider crawled away and got lost somewhere in my room. I didn’t even bother to look for it.
Best believe I didn’t sleep in my room that night.
