We all have a fear of something. Big things, small things, sad things, things not easy to overcome, things that tail us our entire lives. If only there was a little pin to pop the bubble they float in.

One of my fears has been spiders. And over the years I have gradually moved towards not being so scared. I still struggle with them scuttling at speed, but when they are slow or still I can now place a glass over, slip under some paper and set them free. It’s a long way from the me of 30-odd years ago when I would shake and feel sick at even the realisation one was in my house.

Lately, after sharing her car drive with a spider, my eldest daughter sent me a message from one of her friends. She said I’d given her a lift to school one day and a tiny spider was on the dashboard. I remember this – I remember thinking I had to remain calm enough to drive and calm enough not to scare any children. Her friend wrote that I had said “I think we can be friends with spiders when they’re smaller than our pinkie nail” and she said I’d changed her life. Imagine that! Go me the influencer!  She said she had a really bad fear of spiders but that, from that moment, she had decided that she could also be friends with spiders that were smaller than her pinkie nail. And now when she sees a spider she thinks of me. I was hugely complimented and I admit it made me well up and laugh.

Now this isn’t science. This is no method to face fears and win. It was just lucky for us both. But my point today is that no matter how tough the day, how low the mood, how high the odds are stacked, how hardened the brow, if we take it in a small enough chunk, we can. Don’t take a step if you haven’t a step in you, just take a budge-up as small as your pinkie nail.

Love from 

The room above the garage

A Moodscope member