Overcoming My Phobia

      Since I was a young girl, I’ve always feared any animal with wings, especially pigeons. They’re just big and filthy birds, like a rat rings they’ll eat anything.

      On one of my days off, I discovered a beautiful park in Harlem, near 115^th street and Morningside. It was amazing to see tall trees, bright green grass, and a pond with a peaceful waterfall. Its crazy how in the midst of New York’s concrete jungle, nature seems to always make its present known. I felt like I was in a completely different world. There were so many animals from: dogs, turtles, fishes, ducks, gigantic geese, and the infamous pigeons. This was no longer a concrete jungle, but New York City’s Zoo.

      I felt a little uncomfortable, as pigeons were boldly flying over my head, and zooming past my face as if I were intruding in their territory. When the chaos became too much, I began to quickly run on the other side of the park. There were so many birds hovering over my space, and the most I ever came in contact in my entire life. My friend Brian from Texas, who came to visit his family in the Bronx, was also at the park. He seemed to be very relaxed with the mass of birds, while feeding them a loaf of stale bread that we found in the grass. It was amazing how he embraced nature and nature embraced him. Deep down, I wanted to give feeding the birds a try, so I grabbed me a small portion of bread and swallowed a big piece of courage. I slowly took baby steps, while throwing the bread if they were getting to close, not realizing that I was the one scaring them. So I calmed my nerves, walked back to the crowd of pigeons, and overcome my phobia by feeding the multitude of birds.

      I was finally one with nature and my terror of birds began to dwindle down. Not only was this a huge step for me, but a learning experience on courage, by conquering my fears.

✌ ❤☺-Demeshia Jackson