The picture is of
Mr. Bear again. Despite knowing what to
do when meeting a bear, everything I learned went out of my head when Rick and
I rounded a turn on the trail and there was a bear just off the trail!
Rick and I both
stopped. Rick calmly started taking
pictures of the bear. I froze! Rick reminded me that we are supposed to talk
to the bear. Right! “Hello, Mr. Bear! Nice day, Mr. Bear! Those look like great berries! Oh, no, Mr. Bear! We don’t want any of your berries! We are just out for a hike!” Imagine me saying that in about three
nanoseconds and continuing on like that for several minutes! I have no idea what I really said.
When the bear
went back to eating berries, Rick and I advanced. When the bear started watching us again, we
stopped. I continued to babble non-stop. This stopping and starting continued for many
minutes until we were well past the bear.
My assertiveness
with the bear was not pretty. I was
nervous, a little scared, and a little excited!
I did not handle the situation as well as I would have liked. However, I stood my ground. I did not run away. And, I did not hide behind Rick!
The important
thing is that we are assertive, that we do stand up for ourselves. We do not have to be great at it; we do not
even have to be good at it, at least not at first. It is enough that we do it!
When faced with a
difficult situation where you know the right thing to do is to be assertive,
don’t be a bunny, be a bear!
I would greatly appreciate any comments that
you have related to this series of blogs.
I would also love to hear any stories you would like to share. Thank you!
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