I too suffer from an irrational fear of insects. It's not as bad as it used to be. We get wood bees on our porch every year. They're just everywhere but they keep the wasps away so it's not a terrible thing to have them around.

The first year they came around though, my anxiety was so bad I could not walk through them by myself. One day they were swarming so bad I sat at the bottom of my porch steps in tears until my husband got home and could help me into the house.

It's been a few years now , the bees do not bother me anymore.