I was stung by one when I was a young'un and that has left a hate of the things that will never leave me.
So one wasp stings you so you kill every wasp.
If one dog bites you, will you kill every dog?
I was Six at the time. The event has left me in the situation that I either have to leave the room or remove the wasp and I don't care how I do it cause if I don't I won't be able to do anything else as I won't be able to break eye contact with the bloody thing. Its become a psychological thing with me.
As for the dogs, bad example. The average (sub)urban wasp looks pretty much like the next one in my experience. On the other hand there are so many different types of dog that it is perfectly reasonable to be scared witless of rottweilers while adoring westies.
Well, I guess that's not so bad. Have you tried capturing one before? It might help you. Catch the next wasp in something you can see inside. Once it has been rendered harmless see how you feel.
I have bug phobia, and the catcher has really helped me over the years. The fear is but a mere fraction of what it used to be today, it used to be something similar to what you described with all bugs to varying degrees depending on the type. Now in some cases I can behave as normal even with certain bugs in the same room. It's funny how much smaller bugs seem once they've been caught! I bet if you capture a wasp, it will seem as if it has shrunk in size very much
I've captured wasps with the catcher, but have never been stung. I wonder how I'd feel if I did get stung. I don't want to find out. I hope one day the fear will be gone entirely. I'm actually quite confident now when I go about catching something, when initially, all the creature had to do was move to make me jump, now, I can get close to them and wait calmly for the right moment to catch them.
Face your fear, or it will own you.
Yes, that's good reasoning about the dogs. I need to pick something else if there's a next time, and it's quite tricky to think of something appropriate.