I’ve noticed recently that I’ve been practicing what I’ve now coined as the “smack first, ask questions later” action… It really has nothing to do with the recent Muay Thai training I’ve been doing (just finished session 5 today and it’s a real rear-kicker!!). And when I think back I’ve been “smacking first and asking later” since arriving in Thailand last December.
So what am I referring to exactly? Well, you see, not every place has a mosquito net covering the beds. And even if they did, they don’t prevent 100% of whatever night critters decide to come out and join you bedside… And since I’m arachnophobic, I would rather not actually see what it is that’s crawling on me, because if I ever visually found it to be a spider I would absolutely lose my mind.
Enter the “smack first, ask questions later” motto. It’s a simple concept that I use more often than not. Whenever I feel something on my skin while in bed or hanging about, without looking to see what it is, I simply smack the area where I feel the unknown critter. Sometimes that’s the end of it. But sometimes I do feel a body beneath my hand in the area I’ve just smacked so just as quickly as I’ve hit the unknown creature I swiftly grab the body and chuck it as far away as possible from where I am. It’s become such a common movement that I don’t even notice I’ve done it sometimes. And yet I wonder where that bruise came from the next day, lol!!
Thankfully I’ve never come across the body of whatever I’ve hit and thrown off me the next day, which really means one of two things: either the creature was just stunned by the hit and limped away after recovering OR its body was eaten by another critter during the night. Neither of those scenarios are very comforting really, but that’s jungle living for ya! All part of the joys:)
Ramblintraveler 