Natural Instincts

We all have natural instincts that kick in when something bad or unexpected happens or when we're worried about something that is yet to come. I had my natural instincts kick into overdrive this past Saturday when I awoke to my mom being loud stating to my brother that our landlords garden shed next door was on fire. I wouldn't have panicked like I did but one of our landlords pig had had babies a few weeks before and he had the momma and piglets locked in the shed to keep them away from the goats and other pigs until they got bigger.

I saw flames and lots of smoke and my only thought was "I have to get the pigs out of there." So my brother and I ran outside with buckets of water, my brother jumped the fence and I passed him the buckets of water and then I proceeded to jump the fence. We poured water on the outside wall of the shed that was on fire and we realized the bottom of the metal door was busted. Then my brother bended the door a bit more and climbed into the shed and poured water along the wall that was on fire. He saw a heat lamp on top of the straw and turned it off. Appearantly that is what caused the fire. The momma pig and two of the four babies were already out but two were still in the shed. My brother grabbed them and passed them to me and I checked them over, they were fine. We watched the smoke for awhile to make sure the fire didn't restart and everything turned out ok.

The point is we all have natural instincts that kick in when something happens or when we know something is about to happen and sometimes we have to put others first. My instincts kicked into overdrive that day and I didn't think about myself or breathing in the smoke, I thougth about the piglets and saving them. I knew the smoke would bother my lungs but I put my health and feelings aside and did what I knew was right....to save the pigs no matter what. The mother pigs instincts went into overdrive as well and she knew something was wrong and knew she had to get her babies out of danger, she sensed it and headed butted the metal door bending it enough to allow her and her piglets to escape. She knew something was wrong and her mother instinct kicked into high gear. Animals are smarter then some people realize.

 Natural instincts make us do weird things like forget our own problems for a bit to help others be it animal or human. When my stomach pains or chest pains hit I have this natural instinct that makes me want to panic and makes my entire body tense up. I've learned that it's totally natural and normal to feel scared and anxious, it's human nature, our body's defense mechanism kicking into high gear. Our instincts keep us safe and that's a good thing. Sometimes our instincts do go overboard though and cause us to worry about stuff we can't change anyway or worry too much about something so minor and that's when you have to slow your mind down and pick the pieces apart and think rationally.

I'm sure some of you have had a time when your natural instincts kicked in and you knew what the right thing to do was, when human nature tells you to do something and you know you have to. My point of this entry is that natural human instinct can be a good thing, listen to it, cherish it because most of the time your natural instinct is right.