How My Friend's Arachnophobia Helped Me Make More Money, Get In School, And Travel The World

Her name is Jessica. My best friend and one of the most beautiful women you could ever meet. A gorgeous redhead with darling little freckles and eyes you could swim in for days. Smart and hilarious too.
We've been friends since we were both five years old, and we've only gotten closer over the years. In fact, we were inseparable.

Some years ago on an early Sunday afternoon, I remember Jess had come over for coffee and a chat. I quickly greeted her before rushing her into the living room where a tray of lightly toasted tuna sandwiches that I had prepared earlier was waiting.

I rushed off to grab the serving tray with the pot, cream, and sugar. And no sooner did I do that, that I heard the most blood-curdling scream. It was almost inhuman.
My hair stood right on end, but I was still careful to set everything down before racing over to her to see what had happened. Was she hurt?

She stood there with the color from her face completely drained.
"What's wrong, Jess?" I half spoke and half-whispered, trying not to startle her even more.
Her wide eyes stared at the ground in front of her as they welled up with tears.
Terrified, her mouth was open and moving but no words escaped.
I looked in the same direction she was, but all I saw on the ground was a copy of a nature magazine I had walked out of the doctor's office with the week before.

There was a photo of a spider on the cover!

Was that it?

I quickly grabbed it and stuffed it in the trash, relief washed over her.
"Thank you, Kira," she rasped. "I have arachnophobia."
"You think?" I joked, still a bit shaken by her scream.
How could I not have known this?

I noticed that hives covered her face, neck, arms, and hands.
They looked so itchy and irritated.
"It always happens, I'll feel better in a few."
And she did, we talked and laughed as usual.

After she left, I thought about her reaction. I kept thinking about how a photo could cause that, an actual physical breakout into hives. I was fascinated.
Her thoughts and emotions had a direct effect on her physical body, her reality.

I wondered to myself for a long time on whether or not I could somehow
"make" the same happen for myself but in a positive way.

To somehow "hack" or "trick" my brain on a subconscious level to change.
To help improve my situation and develop myself.

Maybe even make more money (anything would have been an improvement, I was broke).

Just do more I guess.

But most of us find a million excuses when noticing we want a change.

• I'm too young
• I'm too old
• I'm too fat
• I'm too skinny
• I'm too bald
• I'm too hairy
• I'm not smart enough
• I can't afford that
• I don't have the time

Any of those sound familiar? I didn't want to do that anymore.

So for anything I wanted, any change, I acted like it already happened.

Don't laugh!

I really did, and will continue to.
I've been doing it for years, and it has changed my life completely.
I know it sounds dumb, "law of attraction" BS and what not.
Honestly, I won't even pretend to know why or how it works, but it does.

I wanted to actually get a university education, to travel, and have the money I needed.
All of those things were just not within my reach. I could barely afford food how could I do those things? And school, I was never ever good at school, the teachers didn't want me there. I'm embarrassed to say that I flunked out, so how in the world could I find my way into university?

I started to pretend I had money, to myself that is. I would change the numbers on my bank statements and look at them over and over and feel happy and achieved.
This feeling would project outward to those around me, and good things began to happen.
I started a business with an investment of less than $10 that made enough to allow me to slowly but surely achieve what I wanted.

I read a comment awhile back by another Steemian who called money "stupid" and "evil".
If someone called you those things, would you want to be around them?
Money is just like that, hate it and it will avoid you. It's a certainty.

I'd envision myself as a top university student constantly, which eventually led me to associate with other top students in my program. I became like them, adopted their habits and continue to do so.

I'd envision myself a world traveller. I'd read guidebooks, maps, watch videos, even book tickets online and cancel once I got to the payment screen. Eventually I was able to travel to several countries, for months and years at a time and will continue to.

It does take time though, even years. I think most are too impatient to let things happen in due course, or they get bogged down in the "how". Please believe me when I say that there was never a moment that I knew how something would happen, I just already acted as if those things already had. I did it so much that it became ingrained, second nature. It was true to me. I knew it.

This is nothing new. A lot of people already knew about this way before Jessica's incident sparked my curious journey to self and life improvement.
I recommend reading "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill if you haven't.
Very inspirational.

For those of you who might think there is absolutely no way that any of this is possible, I came across an interesting article in Scientific American,
Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

Thanks so much for reading this far. I'd love to discuss this further with anyone who wants to know more, or who has doubts, or questions, or is already doing the same!

Talk soon,

Kira 💗

Photos courtesy of Pexels