Anatomy of a personal victory: Holding a creepy tarantula in 5 photos

Dom and Tessa found the tarantula on the plank and after three days, Tessa was determined to hold it.
Scared to death of them, it was a good 15-minute inner psyche battle to do it and a personal victory of appreciating ALL the creatures in the Amazon rainforest when she did it.

The Amazon Refuge Wildlife Conservation Center on the Yanayacu river allows researchers, students and eco-tourists to get away from what has become a sort of build-up in the nearest port towns (Iquitos, Peru) and the simple lodge is hours away from anything, on a gift of 100 acres from the San Juan de Yanayacu native community.

Luckily, it took Dom a good few minutes to get his gumption together to gently hold the spider too so I could grab my camera. It was a triumph worthy of cheering and the spidey returned to the plank, and didn't seem to notice.

There is not a time I look at these and don't laugh.
What fear have you forced yourself to overcome?