I hate bugs

I love summer, but summer also comes with its cons: one thing that I truly detest is bugs. I’m fine with one or two lady bugs, butterflies, bees, and potato bugs, but I dislike all the other bugs. I’m just not an insect person. I also dislike spiders. Unfortunately, it also seems that as I grow older, I become even more afraid of them. Maybe it’s because I allowed a sort of phobia to develop, since I never had a bug-killing experience when I was young to get rid of my mind-set about insects.

When I try to analyze what specific component of a bug that actually frightens me, it mainly all comes down to the motion when I’m killing them. There are only a few bugs that really terrifies me, such as giant, hairy spiders and other tarantula-like insects, but for the most part, I won’t quake in my seat if I see a giant fly on my window sill. I just can’t bring myself to kill the fly with a paper napkin. I can bring myself to kill the fly by slamming a book on it, but I wouldn’t be able to clean up the bug juice mess left behind. The thought of evening coming remotely in contact with the bug carcass disgusts me. I have no idea why, but I just become overwhelmingly uncomfortable.

I know I have to overcome this because when I go out and live by myself, without my parents or sister to be the bug-killers around me, I’ll have to find some method to get them out of my living area. The best method would be to find a bug-killing person to live with me, but I don’t think there are many people who are willing to kill bugs whenever I call. One method that my dad suggested to me was, “If you live in a room full of spiders, you’ll be over your fear in at most three days.”

I just don’t know if overcoming fears has to take such a sudden push. How come there’s no gradual method?