A Bad Case of the Heebie Jeebies May 8, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Animals, Exercise & Fitness, Nature.trackback
Last night, we went for a bike ride at dusk to return a book to the library.
Once arriving back home, we decided to extend the ride to the end of our street and back.
Bad mistake.
By this time, darkness prevailed and objects in our path were mere shadowy spectres . . . including the writhing snake I ran over because I didn’t see it until the last second!
{{Shudders}}
The unfortunate serpent survived the ordeal, scooted off the road, and slithered up the trunk of a palm tree.
Therein lies the source of my Heebie Jeebies ~ I am disinclined to go out for fear that a snake will drop, uninvited, on my head and shoulders as I pass under a swaying palm tree.
I felt bad for the snake as he wriggled to get out of the way, but my compassion for the snake is not alleviating my Heebie Jeebies.
Every time something brushes up against me, indoors or out, I recoil in horror . . . expecting to see a snake flicking its tongue in my direction.
I’ve spent most of the day inside, away from swaying palm fronds.
I may stay inside tomorrow too.
Spirit Lights The Way 
In a case like this, when I can’t seem to shake a negative thought, I sometimes play the scenario forward… Face the fear in my imagination and become my own heroine or visualize a happy ending to the story — kind of like lucid dreaming while awake… and I strongly dislike (aka, HATE) the idea of unexpected encounters with snakes… EEK…!
That’s a wonderful way to use visualization. I often do that, or something similar to bolster my courage and try new things. And it really works . . except with snakes.
I switched out the photo of a real snake in this post for the cartoon because I didn’t like the way it was looking at me. : )
In any case, the heebie jeebies are gone today. I shall go outside and stand under the shade of a palm tree . . .