Snake Season

I saw my first snake of the season on Sunday.

 I didn’t die.

 I didn’t run away.

 I didn’t let it ruin the rest of my day.

If I wasn’t still patting myself on the back, it may have gone down in history as the most nonchalant snake encounter of the century.

But it’s a big deal!

I don’t have a true phobia of snakes. Still, my fear has historically caused me to skip solo trail runs, avoid getting in rivers, and generally have hikes ruined due to my paranoia.

After expressing this fear to a veteran Forest Ranger a few years back, he told me two simple mind and life altering things:

• The vast majority of snake bites involve testosterone and alcohol.

• Snakes don’t want to mess with humans. If you don’t mess with them, they generally don’t mess with you.

Here’s the thing… I have never been - and don’t ever plan to be - amped up on loads of testosterone and alcohol, in the woods, effing with snakes! The odds are already stacked in my favor against a bite.

I made two decisions after that conversation:

• I will not allow myself to use “what if I see a snake” as an excuse not to do something that I truly want to do. Period. It’s not an option.

• When I see a snake, I slow down and I look at it. I don’t run away. I face it head on.

It’s been a simple strategy and that doesn’t mean it’s been easy.

Our brains work hard to keep us safe and mine is more than happy doing its job by helping me wallow in my fear. It reminds me that snakes are everywhere. It tries hard to convince me that the possibility of a snake encounter is a great reason to stay in comfortable places.

And that’s OK. I don’t have to listen. I can appreciate the warning and then remember that it is my job to tell my brain that I am safe and remind it of what I really want and who I really am:

I want to run in the mountains.

I want to float down the rivers.

I am the person who feels the fear and does it anyway.

This Sunday I saw a snake and I didn’t run away.

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p.s. I never fact checked the Ranger, nor do I plan to. Whether or not the “fact” is accurate is irrelevant. My reality changed based on what I did with those words and that is what matters. Thank you, Ranger!