A Chance Encounter

A walk in Warner Park turned serendipitous life lesson on one of the first warm days of spring in 2019. A lady saw me with a camera and said “you need to go over there”,  pointing up the road.  “There’s snakes in the trees”.  Thus began my adventure with 5 rat snakes (non-venomous) that had emerged from hibernation and arranged themselves in the trees. What do we do in life when we come upon a scene of unusual circumstances with uncertain outcomes? Snakes are generally avoided, but it’s hard to refuse the opportunity to see five snakes hanging out in the trees.  A bystander (and snake fan) told me they were rat snakes and not venomous. They had just come out of hibernation, so they were still sleepy. On this day I chose curiosity over fear. How many times in life do we blindly choose fear and miss opportunities to learn about the world?  How much do we limit our lives by fear, when, if we just had more information, we could challenge ourselves to be curious? On this day I chose curiosity over fear.

 

“I want to live in a world full of explorers and generous souls, rather than people who have voluntarily become prisoners of their own fortresses.” Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.

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