Most of Our Fears Are of Our Own Making Ewan, age 11, comes into my room the other morning around 3 AM saying, "I can't sleep. There are scary shadows in my room. Can I sleep in here?" I didn't even have to think about it. "No. But let's go check out your room." I get Ewan back in bed, look around the room, and say, "Ewan, I don't see any scary shadows in here." He puts his hand up in the air, makes a claw hand, and says, "See, there are scary monster claw shadows all over the walls!" I had to bite my tongue to not burst out laughing. "Well Ewan," I said, "if you put your hand back under the blanket, I'm pretty sure the scary shadows will go away." When I got back to my room I had to shut my door because by that time I was laughing so hard I was shaking with the strain it took to keep my laughter silent. I laughed for about 10 minutes straight. The moral of the story: Most of our fears are of our own making. (December, 2016)