Fwiw, I used to be phobic of any fast flying insect until I could confirm it wasn't a bee, wasp, or similar stinging insect because that's how phobic I was of stinging insects.

That heart pounding, sweaty fear reaction is totally relatable to me.

And it was exposure that helped me get to the point where my reaction to the fear is within rational boundaries. Since I'm allergic to the damn things, the fear itself is not only rational, but a safety measure. That's how the phobia got started as a kid; I'd get stung, have a lot of pain, then start the process of anaphylaxis. Kind of etches fear into any creatures bee-like lol.

But, after an event as a young adult, where I literally ran away from a bumble bee and left my patient that I was there to take care without support, I had to get a handle on things. Fwiw, the patient was fine, noting bad happened because of me abandoning him, but it could have been very bad.

It took maybe a year of exposure to get to the point where I could not feel my butthole pucker at a buzzing sound, much less see a bee and freak out. But I got there.

And once you get to the point where the phobia is controlled, it lasts. The exposures were back in the nineties, and just yesterday a bumblebee was circling me while I was taking care of the chickens, and there was only a split second of fear. I know that bumbles aren't aggressive, so I could just stay there and appreciate the beauty of it while I worked.

Had that been a wasp or hornet I would have left the area as a safety measure, and would have done so pretty dam fast, and with fear, but I wouldn't have done anything absurd in the process, I would have had control. And that's why exposure therapy is worth the discomfort along the way, that ability to now control how you react to the fear.

No shit, I used to freak out at pictures or video of bees, but I genuinely find them cute now. Wasps and hornets can fuck right off, but I can appreciate their beauty in pictures now, and that's an awesome thing in the literal sense of awesome where it amazes me at the change possible in the human mind.