Everyone knows what it’s like to be halted by fear.  Fear of death or serious injury can stop you from skydiving.  Fear of financial loss can stop you from starting a business.  Fear of ridicule can stop you from living life to your own drumbeat.

I’m sleeping peacefully when suddenly I awake for no reason.  Before I know it, my head is awash with a stew of anxiety and worries, my peaceful sleep torn to shreds.  Illogical, non-sensical worries that in the light of day might only garner a few seconds of thought, now loom like giant shadows of twisted monsters in an old black and white horror movie.  My heart is racing and I’m overwhelmed with a feeling of claustrophobia.  My warm bed is no longer comforting but now stifling, my dark room not soothing but terrifying.  Even to my adult brain, in the dead of night, these tigers are as real as childhood monsters under the bed.  Why am I worrying? What do I really have to fear? I know that there are no monsters under the bed or tigers in the closet, but I toss and turn for hours, relieved to finally see the first rays of dawn streaming in.  These nights don’t happen often, but when they do, I remind myself that in the morning light the shadows will be swept away, the monsters will disappear and the tigers will be gone.