Can't deal with facing a real spider just yet? That's perfectly ok! You can build up to that moment, using the helpful tips from below.
If coping with your arachnophobia, while interacting with a real live spider, seems like too much of a stretch for now, that is fine. Of course, you will eventually have to do it, if you really want to bring positive changes to your life, but if it too hard for now, you can work your way up to the real spiders.
A good way to work up to real spiders is to start by using toy spiders. There are plenty of plastic and stuffed toys that you can choose from. If your arachnophobia is so severe, that you have a difficult time with a toy spider, ask someone you trust to buy and bring it to you.
Once you have practiced the steps of the course with a toy spider, you can move on to a more realistic toy, and finally – a real spider.
Educating yourself about spiders can also be helpful. At first, it may be best to read books, magazines and web pages without any photos of spiders (ask a friend to remove the pictures). Learn some real facts about spiders, to help you see that they are not as scary as you might have imagined and they can't actually do much to hurt a human. Then continue educating yourself, but add photos as well. Read about some of the impressive and curious features that spiders have.
Learning may de-mystify spiders for you, making you less scared of them when you see one as they will not be this awful alien monster, but instead something you understand.
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Liya Panayotova (Nov 26, 2015). If Real Spiders Are Unbearable. Retrieved Dec 13, 2024 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/e/if-real-spiders-are-unbearable
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