I used to hate baked beans with such a fury it was a genuine phobia. Now I have them most weekends for breakfast and I feel weirdly proud of myself for getting over that fear. It’s good to know how much we can change.
I think a lot of fear is learned (noticing kids are often pretty chill with potato bugs and ants and etc) and am finding that exposure therapy, knowledge on how to identify the few dangerous species in my region, and mentally reframing things can do a lot for helping to become brave in ways that are kind. I think that genre of bravery may just be the most useful and cool. I’m at a point where I’m fine with a spider living in my home.
I have these spiders that live in my house called flatties and I love them. They are so silly and they are always running around. They don't make webs, they hunt their prey like some kind of crab. Did you know tarantulas live 20-25 years? That's incredible. I have many tarantulas that live in my yard and they love chilling outside their hole and night every summer. Before I moved into this house I was so scared of bugs. I had no choice but to face my fears and now I like spiders. Life will change you, won't it? ps. I wanted to include a flattie picture but i decided not to out of consideration for others who are scared of bugs. so google them if you are curious!
Made a Kung Pao cauliflower recipe from Meera Soda’s cookbook and it was tangy, spicy and sweet. I also had a good twenty minutes where the cauliflower was in the oven and it gave me time to clean the gunge around the sink. Meera Soda didn’t specifically reference gunge cleaning.
