[su_heading size=”18″]In an attempt to live without fear, unless fear is merited, I feel totally alive, and happy.[/su_heading]

Rid Yourself Of Fear:

When traveling to an island from the rocky mountains the odds greatly increase for having a horrific travel experience leaving one to seriously question that notion that it is all about the journey. But relatively speaking, we were lucky on our most recent trip to Nantucket Island.

As we stepped off the plane to the outside island tarmac my deep laugh lines instantly plumped up from the gust of thick humidity and I inhaled the salty ocean air, my hair growing as if I had stuck my finger in a socket. Ja, da island mama has arrived.

Pressing play I resumed to where I left off the summer before ready to disconnect from life as I had been living it and suck down a Blood Orange Cosmos (evolved from the Long Island Ice Teas I drank when working on the island over my college summers). The sweet island air and perfect beach days were to be intoxicating.

I have been taking a course through the Aspen Center for Living Peace from Rod Stryker, one of the West’s leading authorities on the ancient traditions of yoga, tantra, and meditation.

Determined to continue to follow his advice to live without fear, I swam with sharks – at least I’m sure they were nearby. This time rather than sit on the beach with my eyes scanning the waters for fins while my boys played in the water, I dove in and boogie boarded with them eliminating any thoughts that came into my head like a shark’s primary sense is a keen sense of smell?and that it can detect one drop of blood in a million drops of water (25 gallons or 100 liters) and can smell blood 0.25 mile (0.4 km) away and that some sharks are fast-swimming (up to 40 mph or 64.4 kph).

Thanks to Mr. Stryker, I am becoming the true definition of a badass, either that or I am being incredibly naive and stupid. If I lose an arm in the process will I just say that it was meant to be?

Of course, the usual family dysfunction raised its ugly head and I swayed between being drunk with island fever and failing miserably at “attaining a higher self” while facing psychological mind twists.

In the meantime, Thumper was getting a taste of teenage island living and I realized that as relaxed as I was, covered in gold flash tats attached by my niece who looks like Liv Tyler, I still had to wear my mental chaps and holster and shut the shit down confirming that problems just follow you wherever you go and if you don’t address them, they will rule your life. Soooo “no, you may not have a midnight curfew so that you can hang out on the beach with all of your new “10” girlfriends and do all those things that I don’t even want to know you are doing.”

And with that comes new issues to contemplate like, do we allow for girls to stay overnight that are visiting from different area codes? Am I ready to have breakfast with the girl of the week in my kitchen? Is this going to be my new kind of fear? Should I wrap my son’s units tightly in saran wrap or give them a case of condoms for Christmas?