I used to hate spiders. I mean I don’t love them now. I kind of just tolerate them. But I remember being petrified of spiders. When I was in grade school I remember taking a shower in the basement of our old house in Ossining. It’s first thing in the morning so I was still practically comatose(not much has changed in almost 20 years.) Through bleary eyes I watch this furry spider the size of a half dollar walking by my feet in the shower. Immediately I slam against the glass of the shower door and scramble to get out. I didn’t take a shower in that bathroom for 2 years. I didn’t get over this phobia until I went backpacking in the Catskills in my senior year at Walkabout. It was weird it happened during my solo time in the woods. This bug kept crawling across the page of my sketchbook. I decided then and there to get over it. It was kind of like a switch. I didn’t realize phobias can be overcome by a conscious decision to not give them power. So spiders don’t bother me much anymore. But fuck cockroaches. They still skeeve me out.
