Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Falling Trees

Several years ago I was on a multi-day raft trip on the Selway River in Idaho. This is a very isolated and also federally protected river, meaning serene and no other people than the ones on our trip. One afternoon, many had gone out hiking the ridge that overlooked the river, but I chose instead to head into my tent for some quiet reading time. I was just tired that day.

The wind was blowing pretty hard and the tall trees around the camping area were dancing back and forth. All of a sudden I heard a crack, swish, crash and a second of the same sound. I was out of that tent in a nano-second. The wind was pushing some of those giant trees right to the ground.

If I was going to die being crushed by a tree, I certainly wanted to know about it! No staying in the tent for me! Seconds before, my energy level was very low - now the adreneline was pumping through my bloodstream. Fear can make our bodies do so much more than we can ever expect.

I liken the above experience to going networking events. Some people would rather die (and this is me sometimes!) than attend. For many this is fear of the situation. (not me, I'm just lazy!) But just like facing the trees, facing the networking situation will send the networking adrenaline racing around your body.

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