Embracing the Python Within

Hello dear friends,

The photo you see isn’t staged—it’s me, grinning like a kid who just won the lottery, with a 14-foot Burmese python draped across my shoulders like a living scarf.

His name is Raja, and He weighs more than my luggage on a bad day. Tourists gasp, kids point, and somewhere a smartphone camera clicks.

But for me, this moment is the cover art of a story that began in chains.

The Invisible Cage

For years, I wore shackles no one could see. They were forged from what will people say? and tempered in better stay safe.

A stable job, a predictable life, a smile that never reached my eyes. I was the reliable uncle, the yes-man, the guy who apologized for wanting more.

Yes, my dreams—writing, traveling, hell, even learning to scuba dive—were filed under Someday, maybe.

Then came the diagnosis: burnout so complete that my doctor wrote “soul fatigue” on the chart. I laughed until I cried in the parking lot. Soul fatigue? Try soul imprisonment.

The Whisper That Roared

One monsoon evening in Kerala, I wandered into a snake park on a whim. The guide handed me a juvenile python—cool, heavy, impossibly calm.

As its muscles rippled against my forearms, something electric passed between us. This creature, vilified as dangerous, was choosing to trust me. No fear. No apology. Just presence.

That night, I wrote my first honest sentence in years: “If a snake can shed its skin, why can’t I?”

Shedding Season

I started small. Quit the soul-crushing job. Booked a solo trip to Thailand with nothing but a backpack and a promise to say yes to everything that scared me. Skydiving over Pattaya? Yes. Street food at 2 a.m.? Absolutely. Then came the snake farm in Phuket.

The handler asked if I wanted to hold their star attraction—a retired film python named Raja. Most tourists opt for the baby snakes. I heard myself say, “Give me the big one.”

Raja was 16 feet of pure muscle memory. As he coiled around my torso, the old fears screamed: What if he squeezes? What if people laugh? What if you look ridiculous?

But Raja just was. No agenda. No judgment. In his unblinking eyes, I saw my own reflection—not the cautious man I’d become, but the wild-hearted boy I’d buried.

The Science of Unbinding

Burmese pythons like Sita and Raja are masters of transformation. They shed their skin in one piece, leaving behind a perfect ghost of who they were.

Biologists call this ecdysis—a process triggered when the old skin can no longer contain the growing snake. The parallels hit me like a revelation:

• Constraint creates pressure: Just as the python’s skin tightens, our comfort zones eventually strangle growth.
  
• Discomfort is the signal: Itchiness precedes the shed. My burnout? That was my soul scratching at its cage.
  
• The shed is deliberate: Snakes rub against rough surfaces to start the process. I had to choose friction—quitting, traveling, facing fears head-on.

Freedom in the Coil

Here’s the secret no one tells you: freedom feels terrifying at first. When Raja’s coils tightened experimentally around my ribs, my lizard brain panicked. But then I remembered—pythons don’t crush what they trust. They test. They learn. They adapt.

I breathed into the pressure. In that exhale, decades of “shoulds” slipped away like old skin. The photo captures the exact second I realized: I am the snake now. I am the shedding.

Your Turn to Slither

You don’t need a python to start. Begin with one honest question: What skin am I ready to outgrow? Then rub against something rough—a fear, a boundary, a “no” you’ve never dared speak.

Last month, I published my first travel essay. Next week, I’m leading a fear-facing workshop in my home town —topic: How to Hold Your Inner Python. The irony? The man who once feared judgment now teaches others to embrace their wild.

Sita still tours the park, patient as ever. When kids ask if she’s dangerous, I tell them: “Only to the version of you that’s ready to die.”

The chains were never steel. They were stories. And stories? We rewrite them.

BE HAPPY… BE ACTIVE… BE FOCUSED… BE ALIVE

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Categories: infotainment

Tags: #creativity, #emotion, #mental health, #Python, #Snakes, #Spirituality, #wellness, featured, fiction, writing