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SparkPeople: Weekly Community Highlight
  Week of 7/23/2009 - Featured Board Post

I Am No Longer Afraid of the Dark
ZEN_WOMAN


I like to yell, "I am no longer afraid of the dark" while I am hiking at my favorite trail. A very unusual thing for a 30 something woman to say let alone yell down the hill as she is walking down the trail. But that is exactly what I yell whenever I get to a really sunny spot on the trail especially if I have been hiking in the shadowy parts of the trail for a while.

It is a metaphor of sorts for my life. As a kid I was never afraid of the dark but as I gained weight over the past few years I gained a fear of the dark. The darkness of my shadow.

Once I started hiking last year as part of my new healthy lifestyle, I would really detest seeing my shadow. I hated being big and seeing it in the shape of my shadow made me wince even more.

But one day I decided to embrace my shadow- It is not like I can get away from it anyway. So I came up with the ritual of yelling this mantra.

I made a fun game of it last Fall, given the huge difference in sunny and shady areas of my hiking trails. And over the last few months I have been able to see my shadow shrink in size and become a shape I am proud of. Today, I fully embrace my shadow and actually try to find it whenever I am hiking. So follow my lead and embrace the darkness in your life and hopefully you too will be yelling, "I am no longer afraid of the dark."



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