Scary moments in time come from the mind

As I escorted my 11-year-old daughter on her nightly run I must say I was surprised. The fact that she wanted to go do some training for her upcoming cross country season was nothing unusual. What set this time above the rest and made it quite different was the fact that the weather was cold and overcast, with moistness prevalent in the air. Regardless, no amount of my attempted persuasion against the run worked and we were off to conquer the hills of Southern Missouri.

As I followed my child, with hazard lights beaming, I couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of the moment. The greyness of the horizon and calmness in the air added to the enjoyment of my watching on as my child punished her mind and body in the name of progress. As Lilli settled into her run I noticed that her pace was steady and inline with her normal running so I quickly began daydreaming about the beauty of nature, thinking about what a great picture the landscape provided.

It was then that something quite comical happened. As I dreamt about the beauty, and Lilli pressed on, I noticed that she stopped abruptly. As my attention fully turned to my child I watched as she leapt upward, turned, and quickly ran to the vehicle. As she approached the passenger window, she asked, “Did you se that?” Seeing nothing other than her scared dance, I shared that I had not. Lilli then described that she was pretty sure she saw a ghost child. As I grinned she added, “No, serious, she was white and jumped straight up and then disappeared”. As I tried to convince my child that what she most likely saw was a white tail deer, she struggled to gain her bearings. Her motivation was for the most part lost where running along the rural roads was concerned. As we sat and talked, she began regaining her coloring and desire to run.

Back at it she declared, as she exited the vehicle and began running again. Her second attempt at conditioning on this day was drastically different than the first. With each creaking of tree limbs, movement of animals, and audible sounds of the wind flowing through the valley, her attention was grabbed. Her ability to concentrate on the run was overtaken by her fear of the little ghost girl.

Short lived, her run concluded and she returned to the vehicle, talking all the while about how she simply couldn’t concentrate, not knowing what lurked in the woods. As with Lilli, we many times fall victim to our own minds. The scary things around us can easily overtake us rendering our mind to be unable to stay on task. Stay focused my friends. Remember to find joy in the goofy scary times, always remembering that the beauty of resilience will carry us through those scary moments. Be safe my friends.

Richard J. Stephens lives in Carter County and is the father of three little ladies ranging in age from 9 to 29.