Those are the words my mentor spoke to me before we walked in the woods. While we were walking, of course I was holding a bright flashlight, and I even mounted a flashlight on my forehead for extra light. You have to understand, I didn't grow up hunting, I didn't know anyone who looked like me, who hunted, and add I was the only black person/woman there, so turning off the light didn't work for me. In my mind I was going over all the scenarios of what could happen, and what could go wrong. Here I am a black woman in the woods, carrying a rifle, with someone I don't know, in an unfamiliar place, deer are there, but also bears, and no one I know who loves me, is close by. This was not a walk in the woods to me on a beautiful spring day, this represented danger, a lack of safety, and add this is not what I've seen growing up. As I stood there, my mentor repeated the words again, "your eyes will adjust." I decided to trust a person I had only met the week prior. But more so, I trusted God in that moment to protect and guide me, and as much as I could, not allow my thoughts to dictate removing myself from the experience. As we walked, I wish I could say I had no fear, but in reality, I was quoting, Psalm 139:4, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. I repeated the word, "shadow", and said to myself, it's just a shadow", so keep walking. As I walked further, my fear lessened, and my mentor said, you will feel your feet on the ground, and I did. When we arrived at the blind, he motioned to me to look at the light which was shining brightly from the visitor's center, and we actually weren't too far away. In that moment I realized the very thing I feared, which was darkness, there was always light, and I wasn't too far away from being grounded in safety. Learning to hunt, you have to take steps, the steps of being afraid, fearful, not knowing what questions to ask, feeling alone in moments when everyone around you is knowledgeable about hunting, and doing something no one in your family has ever done, but your eyes will adjust. Your eyes adjusting is not only for a new hunter, but those who are seasoned. Everyone's eyes have to adjust, whether walking in the dark, or educating someone about hunting, it's about adjusting your eyes. No matter the ground your boots have walked on, or the stubbles of life we have all limped through, it's about sitting in a blind on a cold day from different hills we have lived on, isn't that what hunting is all about? Hunting continues to enrich my life, and one day, my hope, is that we all take chances to walk in fields, on grass, and in stony places, to hunt, so we all adjust our eyes and see clearly.