Out of My Comfort Zone

The first time I discovered an eight legged roommate in my new appartment was late one night (well, it was late for me...so about nine o'clock...) when I went to the sink to do dishes and found a massive wolf spider that wouldn't have fit in the palm of my hand. He was so gargantuan that I didn't know how to smash him without making a huge mess, so I ended up just scooping him into a cup and leaving him in there until I was sure that his crumpled form was completely lifeless. But after this encounter my spider senses were awoken and I began to notice them all over the house. These weren't oversized wolf spiders--they were just little jumpers or house spiders, and they were considerably less terrifying. In fact I decided that I would let my arachnid friends remain in my apartment. This decision came after I had the realization that if there were so many spiders in my home there must be a few insect inhabitants as well, and a few spiders are free pest control. Being the creative genius that I am, I named my web dwelling pets after the places where they could usually be found: kitchen spider, bathroom spider, and ceiling spider. As I type this ceiling spider, who is a very dark colored jumping spider which makes him easy to spot since everything above my living room is eggshell white, is chilling on the fan above me.
Honestly I'm not a huge fan of spiders. I think it's because they give me flashbacks to a time when I was hiking in tall grass in California and emerged with a small tarantula on my shirt. Thus, throughout my life, I have stomped and splatted and slaughtered countless arachnids. But I never really stopped to ask why I was doing it. I mean, in the case of the big wolf spider it made sense. Wolf spiders can be somewhat aggressive and their bites do actually hurt, though it certainly wouldn't be deadly. But the vast majority of those spiders, including all of the ones which currently dwell in my apartment (well, all that I know of...) are completely harmless. Killing them is just one of those things that I do with out thinking. And I've been realizing lately that I do a lot of stuff without thinking. Which, of course, reminds me of a quote from the web comic XKCD:

"Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they're doing. Do things without always knowing how they'll turn out. You're curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you are waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for interesting choices." XKCD webcomic, Choices Part 4, https://xkcd.com/267/

I want to make interesting choices in life. And every time I look up and see my friend ceiling spider I'm reminded that you shouldn't just do things because it's the way you have always done them. There are thousands of new opportunities every day that I miss because I just do what's comfortable. So I hope I keep looking for new adventures. And every day I'll look up at ceiling spider and...hmmm...she's not there anymore.... Where did she go...? Well I guess I'll be spending the rest of the night feeling like something is crawling on me every few seconds. Living outside of your comfort zone is exciting....