The Boy Who Was Afraid of the Dark

A little boy could never bring himself to sleep with the lights off, because he was absolutely certain that the shadows in his bedroom were monsters hiding and waiting in the dark.

Every night he begged his mother to leave the light on. She would gently tell him that the shadows were just familiar daytime things, and that there was truly nothing to be afraid of.

One night, the power suddenly went out and the whole room fell into total darkness. Terrified, the boy began to cry, so his mother rushed in and sat beside him, teaching him to name each shadow out loud, one at a time: 'That's just my chair.' 'That's the curtain.' 'That's my toy bear.'

The boy tried naming the shadows himself, one by one. His voice trembled a little at first, but as he went through each name, he slowly realized that not one of the shadows was scary at all.

That night, the boy fell peacefully asleep in the dark for the very first time. He felt proud of himself, and from that day on, he was never afraid of the dark again.

When we bravely face the things we fear and truly get to know them, the fear slowly fades away on its own.