Last week I returned home late from a new start's jewelry party. We live twelve miles north of the nearest city; the stars are so bright you feel as if you could reach up and touch them. Our home is perched high on the side of a mountain (yes, mountain, not hill. We reside at precisely 5280 ft. above sea level!) in a small neighborhood of less than a dozen homes, each on their own two plus acres. When we moved in, there was no key for the front door; after several unsuccessful attempts to get a locksmith out here, we gave up and began using the patio door exclusively.
Remember how I said we live on the side of a mountain? Well, our driveway is on one side of the house, and the patio is on the other side of the house. To get from one side to the other, you must walk down a narrow cobbled path in front of the house...kinda going downhill, then uphill. Bordering our patio are two humongous red boulders...really the most beautiful red boulders you've ever seen, and part of the reason I wanted to buy this house instead of others...they are about nine feet tall.
So coming home, usually someone leaves the outside lights on for me, or at least the dining room lights. You see, our dining room sort of juts out from the house- it has three outside walls-and the path literally is on two sides of it and the patio is on the third. Without lights on it is very dark, although the stars and moon do shed a bit of light, this wasn't full moon week. Tonight, everyone seemed to have forgotten their dear mum, and it was very dark out. Normally I'd turn on the flashlight app on my iPhone, but with a bag of jewelry weighing 20 lbs on one shoulder, a bag of catalogs and more gear on the other, I had only a hand free for keys and my purse. No lights were on sans one lonely light over the kitchen stove, which shone into the darkness just enough for me to see the outline of the house.
Geared up with my goods, I had a sudden fear of mountain lions laying in wait for me on top of those boulders by the patio! This is not an unfounded fear; I live just five miles from Granite Mountain Wilderness, home of the largest mountain lion population in the United States. I have personally seen deer, javelina, rabbits, quail, scorpions, pack rats and other wild animals on my property. My husband actually saw a wolf. Apparently a neighbor once saw a mountain line on the service road just downhill from us; this was all now justification for the thought that a mountain lion now lurked on my beloved boulders next to the patio, waiting to pounce on me as I walked by, burdened down with my jewelry. Thankfully, I watch wilderness survival shows.
Unfortunately, I could not recall an episode dealing with mountain lions. However, I had recently seen an episode of Man, Woman, Wild in which bears were prominently featured. In that episode it was explained making human-like noises would scare bears away. One of the hosts, Ruth, would say "Hey bear, hey bear" as she walked from the stream to their camp (in a wicked British accent, I might add.) This in mind, I began to stomp my boot heels loudly on the cobbles (but not too loudly, for as a mum I did not want to waken my sleeping children) and say, "Hey mountain lion, hey mountain lion" as I tripped up the path. As I rounded the corner to the patio, imagine my distress as I recalled the scene from Parent Trap in which the dad tells Vickie the sound from sticks won't scare mountain lions away! At that, I stopped my stomping and hastily rushed to the side door, certain the mountain lion was about to pounce.
Instead, I saw an inch and half in diameter SPIDER sitting on the patio door glass three inches from the doorknob, backlit by that eerie kitchen stove light!
Suddenly I was no longer thinking of mountain lions, but rather the very real, very big and very dark spider three inches from where I needed to put my hand. Everyone always asks me, "Why didn't you swat it away?" May I remind you of the loads my shoulders boar? One quick swing and whatever was on that shoulder would fall to my elbow, thus throwing me off balance and potentially into the spider. It also meant going very close to the spider, which may have jumping abilities like the ones in the science lab in the movie Spiderman. One can take no chances with spiders!
I hastily unlocked the top lock, then moved to unlock the doorknob. Opening the door into the dining room, the kitchen light revealed the monster had a white violin-shaped silhouette on its brown body. Brown Recluse. I stepped lightly aside, and slammed the door shut. The spider remained motionless on the glass, still outside. I breathed a great sigh of relief, and plopped my bags on the floor.
It was then I remembered that I had been scared by the thought of a mountain lion.
In business, so many of our fears are completely unfounded. We imagine people will see us as pushy, because that's the stereotype we fear the most. We imagine not being any good, and we imagine ourselves as less than we could be. We base these fears on so-called "facts" - facts as real as the ones I had about the mountain lion. The truth is, we rarely run into the things we fear, and when a real crisis DOES come up, we handle it quickly and without harm to ourselves or others.
Are you scared to try lia sophia for fear of what someone may think? Let your real fear be what may happen if you don't give it a try! The fear of the unknown is often imagined. Be brave and try it on for size. The worst thing that could happen? You'll be stuck with over $1000 worth of jewelry you paid just $149 for. Not a bad deal, is it? And you had already put the cost much higher in your head. Rather be ruled by emotions and "facts" write down the pros (and cons) of business ownership. You will quickly see, it could be just the thing. Drop me a line - I'd love to chat with you about the real facts (and not imaginary ones!)
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