Aren’t You Afraid?
When people hear that I am taking this trip alone and sleeping in a tent, a frequent response is, “Aren’t you afraid?”
I think I have a healthy enough dose of fear that I will help me stay alert and take proactive precautions to protect my safety. However, I am not afraid of making this trek on my own. I like the idea of going at my own pace and setting my own daily agenda.
I will always be camping in campgrounds with other people. I will not be doing any deep wilderness, remote camping, so hopefully that brings some comfort to those of you who afraid for me.
I have been reading up on grizzly bear safety:
I will stay aware of my surroundings
I will make noise so a bear does not get startled by my presence
I will not keep any food or scented items in my tent
I will keep all food stored properly
I will carry bear spray with me
I have no plans on taking selfies with bison or trying to pet an animal in the wilderness, large or small. By the way, I recently read that more people are hurt by moose than by grizzly or mountain lions and I find that comforting. Moose will charge if you are threatening to their young or are “in their face.” So if one gives them a wide berth, no worries and they eat vegetation not people. When on the trail common sense must prevail!
A friend has borrowed me his Garmin, which will allow me to have satellite communication even when I have no cell phone service. This will give me the ability to pin my location at a trailhead to assure that I can always get back to where I started-a safety measure that I will definitely need! Also, I can use the Garmin to make an SOS call which I hope I will never need.
There are some things that I worry about with the top three being:
Forest fires which could potentially reroute my trip
An injury or illness that would prematurely end my trip
Extreme weather which might make some days miserable
When I start to think of the “what ifs,” I think of Jesus’ words about anxiety recorded in Matthew 6:34. “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
One of my favorite prayers comes out of 12 step spirituality and it helps me deal with my rabbit holes of fear or anxiety. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”
On a humorous note, these words were attributed to Mark Twain: “I have lived through terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”
So my plan for fear and anxiety is:
Take one day at a time
Be prepared
Trust in God’s presence
Keep a sense of humor
Finally, I am going to embrace this quote which I saw on line that belongs to Tony Robbins: “Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being excited of what could go right.”
