Rhiannon.
19-02-17, 21:31
So today I went for a hike with my boyfriend, our two dogs and two friends. Was a fairly miserable day today, but thankfully not cold, just wet!
It was a two and a half hour walk through woodland in the middle of nowhere. My anxiety started to pick up around 1 hour because of my heart worries and the fact there was literally only woodland and fields around us on all sides. It was beautiful, quiet, and we only saw two other pairs of hikers on our whole walk. I'd never done the walk before though and started to be a bit panicky. I almost went back, but managed to press on.
When we reached our destination, a woodland theatre, I felt a little better. The place is frequently used by the local pagan's and is full of beautiful wooden carvings and a wooden stage. It is quite a sight since it is so remote.
Knowing that the theatre is only about 45 minutes from the town where we live I perked up and felt better... until that is we had to cross a field.
What's wrong with that? I hear you ask. Well, nothing. Apart from the field contained cows and they were ALL on the footpath. Instantly I remember a time I was hiking a mountain by the house I grew up in and ended up hopelessly lost when my usual trail was blocked by cows and a heavy fog left me unable to deviate from the path.
But here is the interesting part. I didn't fear getting trampled to death, I fearing catching something from the cows! Now I am home, dry and safe I know how stupid that is, but at the time I was really freaked out. What if these cows were quarantined? What if we crossed the path and found a sign warning people to stay away? What if what if?
If my anxiety had any sense it would have caused me to fear the cows physically. They are big animals and we had two dogs with us, one of whom the cows were very interested in (my partner ended up carrying the pair of them through). My fear of my physical safety wasn't even alerted when we realized halfway across that there was a bull in there too, who we passed within four feet of.
Of course we got through fine, the cows moved away from us and the bull just snorted. And of course, there was no warning sign on the other side!
I wanted to post this to show people how irrational our fears can be, even eclipsing fears that are legitimate :roflmao:
It was a two and a half hour walk through woodland in the middle of nowhere. My anxiety started to pick up around 1 hour because of my heart worries and the fact there was literally only woodland and fields around us on all sides. It was beautiful, quiet, and we only saw two other pairs of hikers on our whole walk. I'd never done the walk before though and started to be a bit panicky. I almost went back, but managed to press on.
When we reached our destination, a woodland theatre, I felt a little better. The place is frequently used by the local pagan's and is full of beautiful wooden carvings and a wooden stage. It is quite a sight since it is so remote.
Knowing that the theatre is only about 45 minutes from the town where we live I perked up and felt better... until that is we had to cross a field.
What's wrong with that? I hear you ask. Well, nothing. Apart from the field contained cows and they were ALL on the footpath. Instantly I remember a time I was hiking a mountain by the house I grew up in and ended up hopelessly lost when my usual trail was blocked by cows and a heavy fog left me unable to deviate from the path.
But here is the interesting part. I didn't fear getting trampled to death, I fearing catching something from the cows! Now I am home, dry and safe I know how stupid that is, but at the time I was really freaked out. What if these cows were quarantined? What if we crossed the path and found a sign warning people to stay away? What if what if?
If my anxiety had any sense it would have caused me to fear the cows physically. They are big animals and we had two dogs with us, one of whom the cows were very interested in (my partner ended up carrying the pair of them through). My fear of my physical safety wasn't even alerted when we realized halfway across that there was a bull in there too, who we passed within four feet of.
Of course we got through fine, the cows moved away from us and the bull just snorted. And of course, there was no warning sign on the other side!
I wanted to post this to show people how irrational our fears can be, even eclipsing fears that are legitimate :roflmao: