Walking Through Spider Webs

I've been feeling a shift for some time now. An unburdening, an awakening. A slow boiling inertia I can no longer deny.
It's time to walk through spiders webs.

Does the thought produce the same visceral reaction in you that it does me? It's one of those experiences that is hella funny to witness from a few feet away and sheer terror to be in the center of. As I type this, my body twitches involuntarily at the thought of wispy invisible strings of sticky spiderness weaving themselves into my hair, across my face, down my shirt... and where the hell is the owner of said wisps? in my hair? across my face? down my shirt?

But from the perceived safety of a few feet away, the panicked dance of another person experiencing this attack is pure hilarity. How do a few thin threads and a tiny arachnid spawn such physical fear? When we pause to think about it... what really happens to you when you walk through a spider web?  I mean, really?

Chris Hadfield was an astronaut who went blind while floating in space, yet never felt fear. Why? Because he had already spent years in training with NASA, practicing, practicing, practicing for every possible scenario, including this one. He knew how to simply take a deep breath and proceed without his sight. He was prepared to calmly handle what might seem like a truly scary scenario because he had done "seemingly" scary things every day for so long that he knew he had nothing to fear.

Like walking through spider webs, he says. When you really, really think about it, the probability that an actual spider will be on the web, that said spider will get on you, that said spider will bite you and that said bite will be poisonous... is practically nil. And yet, most of us (me included) panic when that sparkling net enfolds our faces for even a moment. But consider that experience if you walked through a spider web every day. 

What if we were constantly doing things that scared us? What if we dared to let people see who we really are or were honest when we thought it might cost us love or acceptance? What if we went after the life we truly wanted with passion and unflinching determination? What if we failed and had to pick ourselves up and try again.. and again... and again?

What if, instead, we practiced walking through spiders webs - doing the scary things until they lose their ability to immobilize us - and reserved our fear for the life unlived, the loves unloved, the truths untold?