Last Thursday, I had my first experience under blindfold for the semester. We spent the time playing around with echolocation. At first, I was pretty suspicious about depending so greatly on my hearing. Because vision is the unifying sense, and I have been relying on it my whole life, it's very hard to put so much faith in the other senses. I suppose that's the point, though, huh? Learning to trust the other things I notice so that I can teach others how to do the same.
So, back to the echolocation... After practicing what the walls "feel" like, we headed out to the hall and tried walking down the hall without any sort of help. The experience was awesome. I got to go last, and I'm sure the experience of seeing the others not bounce like pinballs really boosted my confidence. I just tried to walk confidently and pay attention. It took all the concentration I had, but I was successful. At the end, my heart was beating so fast. I was a weird mixture of grateful and proud.
Being successful was a really awesome feeling. I had this sort of feeling like when I do something a little dangerous and don't die. I have this habit of being so cautious that I miss out on cool things. Like two summers ago, after a week in the mountains, my friends decided to go whitewater rafting. I was terrified. I mean, I could break a bone, or heat my head and drown, or get hypothermia in August. After a LOT of convincing, I just bucked up and did it, and you know what? Not only did I survive, I had a lot of fun. It's kind of ridiculous, but well, I drew the parallel. I felt brave, and I liked the feeling. I imagine I will have to fight the tendency to hang back and take the safe approach if I'm going to make the most out of this learning experience.
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