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As phenomenal women, we will face many obstacles during our life's journey. The question is: Do we face them head on, put them off on someone else or simply neglect to address them altogether? To further elaborate, I share with you a funny story that happened only moments before this blog was written.

While opening my front door to see my daughter off to school, the biggest spider that I have ever encountered ran into my house and across my living room floor(yikes). Out of respect for her status, I have nicknamed her "Charlotte"(like the spider in the old novel "Charlotte's Web") With my daughter and I screaming hysterically, the spider ran as fast as it could to get out of our way-as he was trying to dodge the sandal I kept throwing at him. Because I didn't want my daughter to miss her bus, I huried her off while I panickly searched for the spider(who had then taken cover near my dining room table). Faced with the dilema whether to fight or run, I realized that I was now alone and had to face this problem head on. Because I didn't want to leave the area(aka scene of the crime-LOL) and risk losing "Charlotte" for good, I looked around for anything that I could find that would actually put this big sucker down! At this point, I was was pacing the floor and shaking uncontrollably as if someone were trying to actually kill me.(drama-LOL) At that moment, I was so overwhelmed I thought I would pass out!

Finally, I grabbed a bottle of Febreze from my kitchen counter(extra strength formula-LOL) and went to war, spraying that big sucker with everything I had. Once I felt I had immobilized her, I then took off running to my bathroom to find something stronger. I returned with a bottle of Comet bathroom cleaner and came back even harder, spraying as if my life depended on it. Finally, after I realized that "Charlotte" was no longer moving, I was overjoyed! But it was not over yet! I had to complete one more task and get a picture of it! Because women do not have the best credibility for describing the sizes of these kinds of creatures(always smaller than we claim-LOL), I knew I would need proof that this was indeed a BIG spider. Not knowing if it were playing possum and planning a counter-attack(LOL), I hurried and got as close as I could and took the picture then covered her up with a glass vase. Whew, I did it! I couldn't believe it was over-I was going to live after all! Although this was a traumatic experience for me, I felt proud that I was able to overcome the obstacle and empowered that I no longer had to live in fear.

Now the moral of the story is...In life, we will face many obstacles. In this story, the fear of the huge spider was the obstacle. My decision was to stay and fight rather than to run out of the room defeated, knowing that the spider may re-appear when I least expected it. The same concept applies to how we handle every obstacle that gets in our way-big or small. We first have to acknowledge the issue, then we make a decision how we plan to handle it. Finally, we take action-NOW THAT'S PHENOMENAL!

(P.S. the jury is still out on whether I permanently bleached my carpet. The CSI Special Victim's Unit is still at the scene-LOL)