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I maintain the conviction that it is always possible to evolve. I think you can in fact train a seasoned creature, as long as the mature being is receptive and ready for growth. So long as the person is prepared to acknowledge when it was wrong, and endeavor to transform into a better dog.

Alright, I confess, I am that seasoned creature. And the trick I am trying to learn, despite the fact that I am decrepit? It is an important one, something I have battled against, frequently, for my whole existence. My ongoing effort … to develop a calmer response toward the common huntsman. My regrets to all the different eight-legged creatures that exist; I have to be realistic about my possible growth as a human. The target inevitably is the huntsman because it is sizeable, in charge, and the one I run into regularly. This includes on three separate occasions in the recent past. In my own living space. I'm not visible to you, but I'm grimacing at the very thought as I type.

I'm skeptical I’ll ever reach “fan” status, but I've dedicated effort to at least achieving a standard level of composure about them.

An intense phobia regarding spiders since I was a child (unlike other children who are fascinated by them). In my formative years, I had plenty of male siblings around to make sure I never had to confront any myself, but I still became hysterical if one was obviously in the immediate vicinity as me. One incident stands out of one morning when I was eight, my family unconscious, and trying to deal with a spider that had crawled on to the lounge-room wall. I “handled” with it by standing incredibly far away, practically in the adjoining space (lest it ran after me), and emptying a generous amount of insect spray toward it. The chemical cloud missed the spider, but it did reach and disturb everyone in my house.

In my adult life, whoever I was dating or cohabiting with was, by default, the bravest of spiders in our pairing, and therefore responsible for dealing with it, while I produced frightened noises and beat a hasty retreat. If I was on my own, my tactic was simply to vacate the area, plunge the room into darkness and try to forget about its being before I had to re-enter.

In a recent episode, I visited a friend’s house where there was a very large huntsman who lived in the sill, for the most part hanging out. In order to be less fearful, I conceptualized the spider as a 'girlie', a one of the girls, one of us, just relaxing in the sun and listening to us yap. This may seem rather silly, but it was effective (a little bit). Put another way, actively deciding to become more fearless did the trick.

Be that as it may, I've made an effort to continue. I think about all the logical reasons not to be scared. I know huntsman spiders pose no threat to me. I know they prey upon things like flies and mosquitoes (my mortal enemies). I know they are one of the world's exquisite, benign creatures.

Yet, regrettably, they do continue to walk like that. They move in the deeply alarming and somehow offensive way imaginable. The vision of their many legs transporting them at that terrible speed causes my ancient psyche to enter panic mode. They claim to only have the typical arachnid arrangement, but I believe that multiplies when they get going.

Yet it cannot be blamed on them that they have scary legs, and they have just as much right to be where I am – if not more. I have discovered that implementing the strategy of trying not to immediately exit my own skin and run away when I see one, trying to remain still and breathing, and intentionally reflecting about their beneficial attributes, has begun to yield results.

Just because they are fuzzy entities that dart around at an alarming rate in a way that causes me nocturnal distress, doesn’t mean they merit my intense dislike, or my high-pitched vocalizations. I can admit when my reactions have been misguided and driven by baseless terror. I’m not sure I’ll ever attain the “catching one in a Tupperware container and relocating it outdoors” phase, but you never know. There’s a few years within this seasoned learner yet.