Sometimes the buzzing is intolerable.

A few months ago, our was house was seemingly invaded by flies. I don’t know where they came from, but it was ridiculous.

One day when I was in the grocery store, I remembered our fly situation and took a look in the pest control section. For less than $2 I picked up a package of four “fly ribbons.” Each ribbon is rolled up in a canister a little bit smaller in diameter than a roll of film. To set the ribbon, you simply pull off one end and unravel a long, sticky strand and then hang it in a place where there are lots of flies — basically anywhere in my house.

I’m not sure, scientifically, exactly what makes these ribbons work. I don’t know what occurs in the fly’s brain to make it think that this ribbon is a good thing to fly into. Despite my ignorance, these ribbons are very effective. In an average day, it’s not unusual to catch more than 20 flies. 

But as I sit at my dining room table and write this post, I hear the buzzing of some poor fly’s last minutes on this earth as it is caught in the amber adhesive. And I think about how my life might be like this fly.

Am I stuck in a terminal situation? I hate my day job and have yet to find any successful alternative. I seem unable to reduce my expenses to less than my monthly income. In the last six months my debt has doubled, and my savings are a quarter of what they were. 

But unlike those poor flies, I am not trapped. There are options, ways to escape the trap of limiting beliefs that have resulted in my current situation. I have the ability to find a way out, to slay my despair and boldly proclaim:

I AM NOT A FLY