Fear is something most of us do not like to talk about, including myself. Anyway, I’ll do it.
It was a couple of weeks ago, that I ended up on an elephant tour in Thailand. My first uneasiness about this adventure was comforted after I knew that even seniors join these tours. The day came closer and so did the elephants. The instructions we received were to talk to the elephant in Thai with these four words: go, right, left, and stop. We then practiced putting bananas on the tongue of the pachyderm saying: I love you. Well, that was quick-built relationship and we got ready for the next exercise: The elephant lifted his right front leg and we had to climb on the back of our new love, giving him commandments saying: go, right, left, and stop! Honestly, my blood pressure climbed higher than the height of the elephant. Being there with two other registered nurses, all kinds of terrible pictures of people with spinal cord injuries immediately came to our mind. Our group of nine courageous adventurers then was divided, and the three nurses invited for lunch before we’d finally go on that trip through the forest, up and down these hills – on the top of the elephant.
The three of us had different strategies: One friend tried to reduce her anxiety by doing some sort of acupressure on certain areas. Another friend got silent, praying to her guardian angel and all the saints who could come to aid. I tried to get more valid information on possible risks. ‘How many people had fallen from these elephants or got hurt?’ The Thai woman’s reaction: ‘You’ll be all right.’ And since she was a faithful Catholic, I trusted. At the end of it, there was only this: Are we gonna do it or not? We did! At the end it turned out to be the highlight of the whole week, we even ended up giving the elephants a bath and I sat on the back of my new love in a mountain river. We all said: ‘Now I want to do it again!’
How often is fear determining our life, obsessing our time with thoughts? This elephant experience thought me a lesson. Face it and trust; go through it and … at the end you’ll be alright! I do not want to compare some people in my life with elephants, but sometimes the hesitation of talking through what has to be said, may become as big as an elephant. The fear of something, that we have never done or strangers who we never met … may become as big as an elephant. But in the end: ‘You’ll be alright!’
