Applying Stoicism: Fear of Spiders

On my way to work this morning, a spider came crawling out in front of my face on the windshield... I almost panicked immediately, but I stopped myself, gently reached over to the passenger seat to grab a bottle of water to swat the thing.

Just as I grabbed the bottle, the spider disappeared behind the rearview mirror.

Having no idea where the creature went, I thought for a moment... who knows how long this thing has been in here? Really, I could have encountered it many times, just never realized. In fact, throughout my life, I'm 100% certain I've had multiple potentially dangerous spiders super close to me, or even on me. I told myself that if it appeared again, I wouldn't kill it, nor would I panic. I'd simply observe it and let it be.

Although, the spider didn't really teach me anything about spiders, it taught me about how quickly my mind invents problems before anything actually happens.

(Honestly, I've no idea what I would have done if it had landed in my lap, though. I hope I'd be able to maintain that composure.)

Just wanted to share the moment, and hopefully inspire others to pause in the face of... spiders.