Shartrina

There are so many obstacles in life that can prevent us from reaching our goals and dreams.  Fear, is just one of those obstacles.  Fear really is just another predator that consumes it victims.  We all have fears, fear of snakes, spiders, cockroaches, heights, closed spaces…you name it, and we “humans” have fear down to a science.  What amazes me most is how much fear controls our lives.  I’ve heard someone say, “I’m afraid I won’t get the job, so I’m not applying.”  Really…what’s logical about that?  You are creating your own worst case scenario!  You, are your own worst enemy!

Well, I will confess, I have my own fears too.  I scream every time I see a cockroach or a spider, not a little scream, a blood curdling scream, a scream that makes your hair stand up on end.  It’s not something I’m proud of, it’s down right embarrassing, but I still do it every time.  So to conquer this fear, I ask myself what can I control, do what I can do, and not dwell on it, but focus on what I can control.   (FYI…still screaming at cockroaches…they are just so ugly)

My Goal:  Wildlife Pictures!

Obstacles:  Predators both animals and human

Strategy:

1. Control:  Pepper Spray, Tazor, Knife, GPS
2. Just do it!

So it seems I’m prepared, and all is well and fine.   Or, so it seems.  That’s until you actually start hiking.  There are so many things to look at, listen to, and smell.  Oh..the smell of pine, is just the very best.  It’s a smorgasbord for your senses.  I’m looking down to find animal tracks, looking in the distance to watch the sunrise, looking around to see what Winston is doing, looking everywhere except directly in front of me.  That’s when it happens, a full frontal assault, a facial implant into a gigantic web.  Yes, that’s right, GIGANTIC, because spiders in the wild don’t DO, small.  These spiders are hungry..as my dad would say “IT’s all that fresh air…makes a man hungry!”  Guess that’s true for spiders too!.  First comes the scream, then hands scrambling, grabbing, and pulling the sticky, icky web off of your face.  And, you have to pull and pull, why?, because its so darn sticky.  A shudder rises up through your throat, and involuntarily comes out of your mouth…a vocal sound of pure torture, until you can spit out the words “Where is it?   Because inevitably that’s the question that keeps repeating in your head the whole time your hiking…Where is it?, Where is it”  Where is it?  You involuntarily slide your hands over your entire body, and then again through your hair, and then you do it again. Hoping to brush it off, hoping at the same time, not to find it, and definitely hoping not to squash it.

Yes.. and you would think this would only happen once, that you would be so careful, and never let it happen again…Think again!  This has happened multiple times.   I hike about half the time, with my neighbor, Linda.  I have to tell you when it happens to her, I can’t keep from laughing.  Why, perhaps to know that someone else shares in my misery, or maybe because, when it’s happening to someone else, you’re able to see how silly the fear is, and see the humor in it.  Spiders are amazing their webs so transparent, I can see why insects get trapped so easily…Oh the web they weave…

I suppose if you are going to be fair, you have to look at it from the spiders point of view too.  Ellen DeGeneres said it best…

This type of spider, is the spider we most run into!