Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

F antasized
E xperiences
A ppearing
R eal


Lets take a few moments and remember a time when we overcame a fear. It could be anything...the fear of public speaking, the fear of flying, the fear of water, etc... How did you overcome that fear? I will share with you a funny story about how I overcame my fear on snakes.

My first real job was as a kennel tech at a large pet store. I was in charge of taking care of all the cute furry animals and somebody else was in charge of the reptiles and fish. One morning I received a phone call from the owner saying the guy who took care of the reptiles was going to be sick and they needed me to also clean and feed the animals on the reptile side of the store. I figured it would be no big real and I happily agreed. When I was done taking care of the puppies and kittens I went to the other side and started with the iguanas. Next was the snakes. We had 2 farely small ball pythons. I figured I would quickly give them some fresh water and that would be the end of it. But, that was not the case. When I opened the cage I noticed the cover seemed loose. Then I noticed the snakes were not in the cage! Of course I got a bad case of the eeby geebies and started looking on the floor for them. I had a dust pan in my hand and figured I would scoop them up and toss them in the cage and call it a day. I could not find those 2 snakes anywhere! I pulled their cage out and as I glanced up, there they were! They had wrapped themselves around the fluorescent light bulbs above their cage. I was almost delusional with fear and panic. I just knew they wanted to bite me. But I was the only one in the store and I had to get the store ready to open. I took a few moments to regain my composure and then I did what I had to do. I basically had to prey them each off of the light bulbs and put them back in their cage. Of course neither of them bit me and I survived. When it was all said and done I actually felt bad for them. I figured they must have been cold if they broke out of their cage to wrap around the light bulb. Anyways I am no longer scared of snakes. I would never want one as a pet, but I am no longer scared.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain." And it is so true. Fear is really a figment of our imagination. The best way to make fear vanish is to look it in the face and just do it.