S h a d o w s

When I was a little girl I was terrified of shadows. 

Not just any shadow though, it was my own. My parents tell me I would turn around and see this giant scary gray thing and I would run away and cry.

I would cry because no matter how far I ran... the shadow seemed to become bigger and would never stop chasing me. 

I was too little to understand that there was simply nothing there... but a shadow cast from my own body.

Sometimes I think I'm still afraid of my own shadow. 

Not literally... but all of my fears become a shadow that I'm constantly trying to run away from.  

Isn't it funny how we grow up... but the fears never leave? They just change and become different things. 

I wonder what would happen if one day we actually turned around to face the shadow and walk towards it instead of run away.

We'd see it would become smaller... and that it's not real.

The shadow I feared for the longest time only seemed like a giant because I kept running from it. 

But once I got closer, I saw that I actually made it bigger than it was. 

The moment we realize that the giant shadows are created from us running from them... we'll have the courage to turn around and finally face them. 

And slowly but surely step by step, we'll come to know that we ourselves are bigger than any shadows we cast. 

Take the first step and turn around, face your shadows... they only seem bigger from far away.