Are you afraid of the dark?

I’ve always been afraid of the dark.

As a young child, I kept a small light on at night to cast away the shadows alongside my desk and bookshelf. At night, my stuffed animals transformed; their inviting eyes became devious and their smiles mocked me while I slept. Meanwhile, above my bed hung a poem that read, “…If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” That didn’t help the situation.

Things aren’t much different for me as an adult. Last Saturday morning, I left for the jogging at corniche at 5:00 AM. The sun was still soundly asleep and the moon was but a tiny sliver in the clear sky. In this suburban land-of-no-street lights, darkness rules the night with an iron grip. The shadows immediately enveloped me as I stepped from the our brick pathway onto the street. I disappeared in the bunch of very low fogs...

In an attempt to apply logic, I thought to myself, “What’s so scary about the dark?” It’s the unknown. The uncertain. (Or perhaps the potentially rabid raccoon crouching under some hidden shrub.)

But in my life’s philosophy, I embrace uncertainty. It’s probably one of the most important ingredients in a purposeful life, as uncertainty opens you up to opportunities, growth and to the flow of the universe. If we are certain and secure, then we are a living on a path we’ve already traveled; we’re prisoners of our past experiences. Alternatively, when we throw ourselves into the unknown, we allow for the evolution of the self.

I shouldn’t be afraid of the darkness and the uncertainty it brings. As I ran to the corniche, I thought to myself, “I need to embrace the darkness.”