Roadside therapy

Carrying a turtle

On a recent walk, my mind seemed to be trashing the natural beauty all around me. Trashing myself, as well, with worry. Worries about every single thing. Bet you’ve been there…

STOP!

STOP halts uninvited texts, but doesn’t seem to do much for yours truly’s wildly gallivanting mind. Impervious to “Stop,” just like oil bouncing off heated Teflon.

Suddenly, something emerging from the roadside weeds caught my eye. Alright! It was a big, beautiful, box turtle. I adore box turtles! And this critter, clearly, had a road crossing in mind. No turtle crosswalks, wildlife corridors, or crossing guards in attendance. Nothing to circumvent this turtle’s built-in radar of “I know where I’m going and will not be hindered” except, of course, by the next big ‘ol car trundling down the road.

But there was me! A turtle adore-er, who could ferry this critter across the road. Ta dah! I gently picked it up and as I reached the other side of the road, my turtle buddy peed on my hand. We all have anxiety, you know?

Releasing the shelled passenger, my soon-to-be-washed jeans soaked up the turtle’s parting gift to me. I was smiling, big-time. Couldn’t help it.

Trashing the world and myself? Forget it! Done. My inner science nerd suddenly remembered that smiling can facilitate my brain’s release of happiness-inducing hormones. Geez, even fake, smiling can do it. At that moment, I was golden. I had a full-blown smile, most likely due to the turtle’s parting gift, plus, of course, I love turtles.

Now, here’s the really odd part. I’m patting myself on the back for my more positive outlook on the world. Figured I could probably quit smiling now. I couldn’t. I could not. I’m not kidding you. My lips did not want to lower to their usual horizontal position – no, they did not. So, here I am, walking along with a smile literally plastered on my face. The smile took on a life of its own. I no longer seemed to be in charge. My brain‘s happy hormones had taken over.

So I went with it. I mean, who wants to fight with herself over a smile? Not me. I can be flexible (on occasion.) And so I was.

Eventually, my smile subsided on its own. I don’t think I noticed though because I was really enjoying my walk at that point…