In New Zealand I never got bitten by paper wasps that made my skin swell into a hard red balloon shape and there were fewer mosquitos. I could sit on the grass without getting covered in ants and my legs never got covered in so many itchy red spots that I looked like a connect-the-dots puzzle.
In New Zealand there were also no snakes. Since moving to Australia, I have had close encounters with several large snake, and last week I had a python in my living room.
It was six or seven feet long, grey brown with a diamond patterned top and white underbelly. I left the door open and it must have followed the sound of my TV, right into the room where I was sitting. It then slid into a quiet corner, curled up with its head inside its body, and went to sleep.
What to do?
I had three options. I could
1. Ignore it and hope it would go away by itself.
2. Learn to live with it. Find out what it eats, and what else it needs, and then make the most of having a pet snake.
3. Get some friends over to help me remove it
Of course I chose number three.
We are always going to have metaphorical “snakes” in our lives, so we have to choose how to handle them.
We can;
1. Ignore the problem as much as possible. Focus on other things so as to maintain our happiness.
2. Learn ways to lessen the impact. Find out how other people cope with similar issues. Take regular breaks from the problem. Learn more about the problem. Is it as bad as it seems? Perhaps there is another way to look at it? Just as many people enjoy snakes and even have them as pets, perhaps many people would be happy to have your problem. What are the positives?
3. If you have the option, remove the problem.
Just don’t spend time hating the problem. It is not productive. Do something to change it, move away from it, or just accept it.
Learning to cope with life’s problems will make you happier.
