TO HIKE OR NOT TO HIKE - That is the ?!

The answer is out there…and it’s looking for you…

Trinity- The Matrix  (1999)

In the spring of 2011, my husband had an epiphany. Through the advice of a wise friend, he was urged to reconnect with nature to relieve stress and bring harmony to his body, mind, spirit and soul. And when he arrived home, he could not wait to tell me the good news:

“I need to slow down a little, turn off my mind and enjoy nature again. When I was a kid, I loved to be in the woods by myself. It was a place where I felt true harmony and peace.  I realize that I miss that and I need to get back to that place again.  I want to go hiking on the weekends and I want you to come with me. I want this to be an activity for both of us, not just for me. It’s great exercise! I know this will be good for you.  Hiking will make you stronger and give you more balance. You’re healthy now so you have nothing to worry about. We’ll start out on easy trails first. It’ll be fun! Trust me, you’ll love it!”

OK – I’ll be honest. I didn’t share my spouse's new passion at first. Dealing with chronic Lyme for all these years made me very apprehensive to be outdoors. But hiking in the woods?  Was this something I really wanted to do?  My fear of ticks and bug bites leading to chronic Lyme was still a huge issue that I had yet to resolve.  I was finally in remission, the first time since my initial tick bite in 1996, and I didn’t want to jinx my luck. And then it occurred to me, I was still on the allergie-immun therapy*. ( See Decoding Allergie-Immun for more info).I knew that the AI drops would protect me from any new infection. This gave me peace of mind. So, I reluctantly agreed to accompany him the following weekend to a popular hiking spot.

And would you believe, a few days after we hiked, I found a #&*% little tick on me! Specifically – in a place where the sun don’t shine! Here I go again! I thought I sprayed on enough repellent, but I guess I was mistaken. So, I sent the tick out to be tested for Lyme and thank God, the results came back negative. But ticks are known for spreading other pathogens, besides Lyme. To my relief, I had no symptoms. I felt fine. The allergie-immun therapy obviously did its job!

I also realized that finding that itty bitty tick was a wake up call for me. I should have worn light colored pants tucked into my socks. I should have sprayed myself from head to toe. And I should have checked myself better when we returned home from our hike. What can I say?  Bugs love me! If only I could cloak myself in an impenetrable shield that would protect me from those nasty, disease spreading insects! And, I said it before, and I’ll say it again, I refuse to wear deet.  Deet is a neurotoxin. (I’ll be talking more about this in a future post.) The energetic allergie-immun therapy  was protecting me now, but I wasn’t going to be on this therapy forever. So my question was: to hike or not to hike?

I was in a quandary. In the past, Dr. Goodsoul had advised me to “be in nature to promote healing and strengthen my body, mind and spirit". As a matter of fact, this is the sentiment of ALL holistic practitioners.  Being in the beauty of nature is a way of keeping grounded and connecting to the divine consciousness within you. Being in nature rejuvenates your spirit and feeds your soul. Simply put, hiking in Mother Nature is therapeutic on all levels. And I have to admit, I was intrigued by this idea.  This little light of hope, that somehow hiking would be healing and beneficial, was the main reason why I stayed on the “warpaths” each weekend.

You think I’m kidding?  The trails were like warpaths to me. While my hubby was in his exuberant glee, I was dodging high grass, stray brush and nervously inspecting my pants every 5 seconds! The biting flies and mosquitoes were the unrelenting grenades, dropping all around me. And the ticks were the blood sucking land mines!

I was in a war and my love of my life…was in his glory! He was absolutely ecstatic! He would bounce up the mountain trails like it was nothing and was rarely out of breath. As for myself, I was always at least several yards behind him, struggling to catch up. And since I was always behind my high-spirited trail mate, I started to make discerning observations. Where did all of his energy come from? I always thought of him as being healthy, hearty and strong. And he definitely was. He never had Lyme disease or any other sickness, for that matter.  He never “caught” Lyme disease from me. As a matter of fact, he is rarely sick. But walking behind him on the trails, I observed something that would change my way of thinking to a more positive and healthy frame of mind.

He had not one iota of fear while navigating the trails. The fear of ticks, of bugs, of bug bites leading to Lyme, just wasn’t in my husband’s conscious or unconscious thoughts.  He hated using repellent and if it wasn’t for me begging him to put some on his socks and hiking shoes, he wouldn’t be using it at all. Bugs were just not attracted to him. Why? Was it his lack of pheromones? Was it his blood type? Or was it the fact that he had no fear of biting bugs and as a result, they didn’t see him as a potential meal? Could pheromone driven bugs sense fear? I was told that dogs have that ability. When humans are afraid, they give off an undetectable odor that dogs can react to. Was this undetectable odor actually making me more attractive to biting bugs?

The only way I was to find out was to lose my fear. And I needed to do two things in order to accomplish this feat. The first was to find a natural, organic and safe repellent that would act as a shield and give me complete confidence and peace of mind. The second was to bring this unresolved fear of biting bugs to the surface and dissolve it forever. And for that I would need the help of the one and only, Dr. Goodsoul.

And the results… will be in the next…

Healer Dealer Diary

*I have no financial interest with allergie-immun and I do not make any commission off of any sales.