What’s something you’ve done that you never thought you could?

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Let’s talk about phobias for a moment. That’s exactly something I never thought I’d be able to do: overcome one (briefly, but it still counts)… Actually, two of them, if you count specific phobias. Let me walk you through those proud moments.

First, I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this on my blog, but I’m super scared of two things: flying and… drumroll… spiders. 🕷️ If there’s one in my home, I’m legit ready to just move out or burn the house to the ground. And here’s a special shout-out to the folks in Australia: you’re awesome, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to set foot on your land. Super sorry about that. 😅

Okay, let’s get back on track.

✈️ Phobia #1: Flying

I have a profound fear of flying. And yes, I’ve traveled before, not many times, and as you can imagine, avoiding things that scare me is my bread and butter. Flying is one of those things I just avoid. But getting married to a guy from India forced me out of my comfort zone quite a bit, all the way to the mysterious country of India, including a 9-hour flight there and back that I somehow survived. I’m still shocked about that, and still very proud. Never, and I’m serious here, never in my entire life could I have imagined traveling so long on an airplane and actually feeling alright.

Well, a lot of entertainment had to be brought on board: relaxing music, lots of gum, nose drops, earphones with tons of downloaded music, and hence paid subscriptions for almost everything: YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, Prime, Apple TV and Disney. Since only a subscription allows you to watch offline, I had to be prepared for everything. (If they’d had Wi-Fi on board, I would have spent the whole time doom-scrolling Instagram.). I’ll tell you more about how I prepared in a separate post.

So, yeah, still very proud, and hopefully, in the future, I’ll be able to fulfil another dream of mine: flying to Japan. 🗾

🕷️ Phobia #2: The Spider in the Shower

And, as promised, the second phobia. I didn’t forget. This one is not so pleasant.

Imagine the situation. It’s half past midnight. You’ve just finished an exhausting day of caring for a baby and finally organized his playpen for the morning, and all you want is to take a shower and head straight to sleep. You go to the bathroom, open the curtain, and there he is: a spider, just sitting right there on the shower floor. I swear he was grinning evilly at me while I stared at him in utter horror. And that’s it: no shower for me.

But.

I don’t give up easily, and I really, really, really didn’t want to wash him down the drain. It would have been a super mean thing to do. Usually, my husband takes them out of the house, but this time he was on a business trip, and it was too late to summon one of my neighbours. (Yes, yes, I’ve done that before.)

So, whether it was out of exhaustion that my fear diminished significantly, or out of the bravery of my heart at that exact moment, I took a transparent Tupperware and trapped the spider in it, helping him climb the slippery shower tiles up to his usual place on the ceiling. After around 30 painful minutes, it was done. I was finally able to take a shower and go to a well-deserved sleep, with a huge feeling of pride in my heart. 💪

My fear didn’t dissapear completely after that of course, I didn’t expect it to. How awesome would it have been if next day it just vanished? But, I feel more empowered, believe in my strength and that some day it will get better.

💬 Your turn

And what about you? What did you think you’d never be able to do, but actually did? Tell me in the comments 👇