Day 5 of 365: Overcoming Fears in Hopkins, Belize
It’s hard to believe it has already been five days here in Belize, and even harder to grasp that we have 360 days of travel to go! And yet with all of the experiences we have had thus far, I can’t believe its ONLY been five days!
We have started to get into somewhat of a routine—well buckets of predictability, as no two days are ever the same. We have a school “checklist” and a nightly “checkout” system. The checklist has all the things that the kids are supposed to cover during the day, at a minimum:
75 mins of school work (guided by K12.com and Mr. Daddy/Mrs. Mommy)
15 mins of PE
10 mins of Wellness (positive self-labels, nutrition, thinking traps, etc.)
15 mins of Spanish practice
15 mins of Reading
15 mins of Writing
On top of this, they have set 60-day goals and self-report their progress, their overall rating of the day, one reflection or gratitude, and what was one act of family kindness they engaged in (they are super kind to others but could use a little intention on each other). Kapil and I have been doing our checkouts too and it has made for some amazing dinner conversation.
Most of their gratitude and reflections have been focused on the kindness and growth mindsets of their new friends from the village. In noticing their friends, they are recognizing their own privilege which is breeding empathy…and the acts that result are not charitable/colonial kinds, but side-by-side togetherness (playing together, sharing snacks, etc.). It really is amazing to see how quickly friendships can form.
Amidst all of this learning, we have each conquered at least one major fear. Though Kapil and I haven’t talked about in depth, I will venture to say that he is overcoming his fear that the kids will hate this trip! They each have had their moments of complaints, but their daily checkout ratings of the day, affirms their intrigue and desire to be here and on this adventure…so in a way, maybe Kapil has not had to “face” this fear. Zayan conquered his fear/obstacle of getting scuba certified (see his blog post for more); Kenza is conquering her fear of being away from family and friends; and Kaysee wants so badly to face his fear/curiosity in seeing a “shark” that during snorkeling, he somehow seems to spot sharks that we haven’t seen (or even discovered yet—like the “Cat Shark”) 😊 What about mine you ask?
I am officially living with a mouse!
(Note: If you haven’t already read my previous blog post: “What the Heck Have We Done?”—now would be a good time for context)
So, post epic thunderstorm (which has happened three times in 5 nights), I felt bad for the little mouse but still didn’t feel like I could live with it. We told the VRBO contact and he said he would get someone to place a trap in the house. A day came and went and no traps…but no mouse sighting. The next morning, I had pretty much convinced myself that it had just come in to escape the storm and I was “forgetting” about it…UNTIL I saw Kapil jump and then Kaysee “jumped.” I asked them what they saw and Kaysee said he thought it was a lizard from the corner of his eye (which are also abundant in our bungalow). Kapil affirmed the story and said, “yup let me just look for that lizard”—but I knew something was up and Kapil calmly said that it was a small mouse. I once again jumped up on the futon while Kapil tried to find it (see video below), but to no avail! That day we set up traps—and not any homemade DIY kind of traps, but a big glue trap baited with cheese to catch that sucker (sorry, but you have to understand my psychological distress).
At night, I slept with sheets tightly wrapped over my whole body and face and tried to close my eyes and rest—despite the cacophony of sounds: rain, roosters, crazy alarm birds, and the curdling silence of bugs and spiders you know are hunting you. In the middle of the night, I heard the glue trap shift and move and then I swear I heard mini mice squeal/talking! Of course, I woke up Kapil and asked him to check and he confirmed that there was a mouse in the trap (and apparently even took a picture—see below). I asked him to move it but it was 2am so I just let him go back to bed thinking that we will deal with it in the morning (please note that this is already a HUGE step for me). I once again started to feel bad for its struggle and inevitable end…but selfishly, got excited that the bungalow would soon be fully ours (muaaahhhaaaa haaa).
To my dismay, around sunrise (two and a half hours later) the mouse vanished! He/she/it freed itself and ran off! Well, that is one resilient little sucker and I must give it props…if it is smart enough to free itself and NOT let us see it, then I will be strong enough to conquer my fear :) So, now its been two nights of semi-sleep and the mouse and I are cohabitating!
Cheers to overcoming fears by necessity!
Update 7/21/18: Last night we caught one mouse and at the same time saw two more! So we are definitely living with a colony and I'd say that counts as overcoming fears, don't you?
My mouse mate staring at Kapil.
