I am not trying to make a metaphorical statement here. The other day, I literally had to go through about ten turkeys blocking my path. It may be fine for some people but it was a gut-wrenching moment for me. Since I was a young child, I have been phobic about birds with a neck and wobbly things like wattles. I used to earmark pages with chickens’ photos in my science book to avoid turning into those pages.
It was supposed to be a pleasant morning walk. Too early to see many people on the path. The sun started rising and the air was crisp and fresh right after the rain. A perfect morning to have a mindful, solo walk. Then suddenly I saw the gaggle of turkeys: A group of the male turkeys fanning their feathers up, facing the other group of the female turkeys. Each side was making loud, gobble-gobble sounds. Instead of a mating ritual, it was more like watching a tense fighting moment of the West Side Story of the turkey version. Both were carefully sizing up each other and waiting for who will make the next move. Luckily a man was jogging nearby. I asked him if he could go through the path with me. He said that he was heading the other way. He looked at the turkeys and said, “Don’t worry – they won’t bite.”. As soon as he said that, I started having some lousy chain of thought, beginning with an incident when my sister-in-law got attacked by a wild goose. I thought about the scenes from the movie Birds.
Fear seized me. I was ready to turn around. Then, I had this feeling: If I turn back now, I will never conquer fear in my life. I felt that this could be a test for me to prove I can overcome any fear – a symbolic gesture but a significant trial.
So, I took a deep breath and marched toward them without any eye contact. I could feel their eyes are briefly on me, but, as I approached, they started to move to the right and I got pass through them. My heart was pounding but kept walking without turning back until their gobble sound faded away. I was joyous when I got to the path I wanted and the rest of my walk was one of the best hikes I had in many months. I was happy that the gaggle of turkeys did not foil my chance of a great morning exercise. Lesson learned – Don’t let fear take over your life. Don’t let the gaggle of turkeys ruin your plan.
Learn to Live 