Who are your spiders?

I've been running regularly over a year now, often in the dark hours before sunrise.  As the weather turns cooler, I can think of only one thing I won't miss about the warmer months:  spider webs.


On many mornings my peaceful cadence is interrupted as I'm suddenly covered in a wispy, sticky spider web.  Agh!  My standard flailing of arms, closing of eyes, and general panic ensues for the next couple of seconds.  I continue to pat all over and wipe away the remains of the web for the next minute or so.

To be clear, the webs actually don't bother me that much.  The reaction isn't because of the web, but instead what the web represents.  The spider that made the web is the unwelcome interloper on my morning runs.  Spiders are those scary creatures that seem to creep and crawl into our consciousness near the end of every October.  And when I'm running in the dark, I can't see my enemy, but I know he's there.  I just destroyed his home, and he's out for revenge.

But contrary to horror movies and pop culture, spiders are actually pretty nice to have around.  Have a garden?  Spiders help keep those munching pests at bay.  Hate mosquitoes, roaches, flies, and other pests?  Guess who eats them.  In Pakistan, spiders reduced the risk of malaria during severe flooding a few years ago, as the booming mosquito population made for a feast.  There's even a species that prefers mosquitoes carrying malaria.  In fact, in North America where I live, there are only two deadly kinds of spiders - the rest are relatively harmless.

These same behaviors manifest themselves in our daily lives.  It's human nature to react (or overreact) negatively to perceived threats, and we often miss the utility and value of the people and things around us.  We give them names, and write our own horror stories about them - just like we do those spiders.

Who are your spiders, and what do you do when you come across their webs?

The challenge is to rationally reconsider our negative reactions and test our thinking.  Sometimes that spider presented to us may protect us from worse things - and sometimes not.  We have to develop discernment to successfully navigate these situations.

Best,
Bryan