Hi! My name is Noa Heinrich and I live in Chicago. There is something that make me, me that people cannot see.  I have arachnophobia! This means I have a big fear of spiders! For example, whenever I am near a spider I freak out and run away. This means there are certain things I cannot do. For example I won’t go camping since I am too scared to sleep in a tent. I also really don’t like going to farms either. At my summer camp, there is a unit where we are supposed to live in tents for four weeks and I won’t do it because of my fear of spiders and other bugs too.

People do treat me differently because I have arachnophobia.  They think it is a joke and a lot of people already know. They also say things to me like, “Look Noa, there is a spider on your head!”  Or, they laugh at me when I see a spider. Even my brother and sister treat me differently and not in a good way because of my fear of spiders. Fortunately, my friends don’t laugh or say anything mean to me about it, but everyone else does. Even though I know people are joking, I still really get scared.

Even though people treat me differently and tease me about having arachnophobia, I haven’t learned to flaunt it yet because I am still too scared. But I am willing to try. I think a way that I could flaunt it would be to go near a spider and not freak out. Or maybe the best way I can flaunt it is to try not getting bothered when other kids tease me about my fear.

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