You wake up in the night and see a snake

It’s coiled in the corner of the room, still, threatening….

Your heart races, your breath shortens, you freeze….

Now… what’s the best thing to do????

– Do you YouTube how to charm a snake?
– Call in a certified snake handler with a decade of experience?
– Take a picture and run it through Google Lens to see if it’s poisonous?
– Create a 10-step plan to desensitise yourself to snake fear?
– Sign up for 12 weeks of “How to Live with a Snake” therapy?
– Dig deep into your childhood to uncover your core snake beliefs?
– Journal about your snake patterns?
– Download an app to track your snake anxiety?
– Medicate the panic so you can sleep through it?

Or…

Do you turn on the light?

And when the light’s on, what do you see….?
It was never a snake, it was a rope.

This is the state of our mental health system, a never-ending menu of methods designed to help you cope with the snake, manage the symptoms, reduce the panic, and learn to live with it – instead of turning on the light.

No one stops to ask: what if the snake isn’t real?

What if the entire system is built around coping with a misunderstanding?

What I’m offering – through this work, through IRP, through everything I teach – is not a better way to charm the snake.

It’s an invitation to wake up
To turn on the light
To see clearly

Because once you see it’s a rope, you don’t need to fix anything

You don’t need to fight your fear
You just know