Two Frogs & A Snake Share A Bucket..

No the Snake didn't eat the Two Frogs

I have my lovely 8 year old daughter resurfacing my fears of snakes as I was taking her back to her mom's yesterday. As I have her every other weekend which is stipulated in the parenting plan. Kristen says to me, "Dad, do you remember when you made me touch that icky little Snake"? I had to chuckle a bit for there for a second. I have "NEVER" made my daughter do anything that she doesn't want to do. I even held her hand every step of the way. But it's not what you think. I would never make anyone do anything that they don't want to do, especially pressure anyone to get into one of my businesses. Let me tell you what happened though. I have a deep seated fear of Snakes, since I was a young kid. My cousins would torment me with gardener Snakes and corn Snakes. I lived in Nebraska at the time and in the summers those sandhills would literally crawl with those deep seated fears.

Being fearful and panic stricken and got anxiety at the thought or word, Snake, kept me from growing into the person I should have with no fears; especially in our world today. Throughout the years though, I would slowly, inch by inch, make my way closer to the Snakes in their protective glass cages at the pet store.

So what happened? Did I conquer my fears? Soon I was nose to nose with a baby boa Snake. I happened to have my daughter with me at the time. Kristen said, "Dad your freaking me out". I got down on her level, eye to eye, and talked to her a for a bit reassuring her that she was safe; that I would hold her hand every step of the way. So that she can respect the creatures that can take life within a blink of an eye; to a curiosity that it won't hurt you and it won't hurt me. With that, the pet shop owner slid the baby boa in my hand. I didn't force my daughter in any way shape or form to touch the snake. She came out of her comfort zone and inch by inch slowly, cautiously got close enough to see it in my hand. Amazed, she said,"It's not going to hurt you and it's not going to hurt me". "No, Kristen, this little baby Snake will not hurt you".

But What Happened to the Frogs?

Were doing great. We were frogs. Kristen and I are the frogs that churned the milk in the bucket long enough to churn it into butter to succeed and get past our fears of snakes. We didn't give up when the going got tough and Snakes were staring at us in the eye. If the two of us can do that; granted it was just Snakes, (I know there are some people out there that have Snakes as pets) but still it's a deeply seated fear of change for a lot of people. My mom and grandma are two of them and they are deeply panic stricken by Snakes; but they didn't let their fears overwhelm them into stop being as successful as they are today.

We Are All Frogs In The Grand Scheme Of Things

The question is, are you going to give up on conquering your fears; or keep on swimming, to churn that milk into a creamy butter so that you can get out of that bucket so that you won't drowned.