Growing up, I was a kid with many fears. I didn’t know why I had them, or how they began but all I can say is they had a big impact on my life as a kid. And at the time, my biggest fear of them all was thunderstorms.

 

Some of you might be thinking to yourself, “Really, Siena? A thunderstorm?” But yes. From Grade 4 until Grade 7, I was absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. I can still remember all the times during summer when my family and I would go boating on the lake. After 20 minutes, we would have to turn around because I saw a few dark clouds in the sky and convinced my family that we would be trapped in a thunderstorm. In reality, it was a perfect sunny day.

 

Another thing I remember, is pulling up to a family barbecue and I just couldn’t get myself out of the car because I was too afraid of the dark clouds that were above me.

 

I often told my parents how I wished I was like the other kids who could play outside and not care about a thunderstorm.

 

So, if you couldn’t already tell, my first solution when it came to facing my fears was running away, and I was very good at it. But even though this was my solution at the time, running away always made me feel weak. I felt like no matter how hard I tried, I could never overcome this fear and it would follow me wherever I would go.

 

But don’t worry, this story has a happy ending. Around this time, my dad told me something that I will never forget. He said, “Siena, in life you always have a choice.” You can wake up each morning and decide to see things positively or negatively. And with time and patience, I finally started telling myself a different story. When I had moments where I was afraid, all I did was tell myself that everything was going to be ok, and I wasn’t going to get struck by lightning. Really all I did was think positively and tell myself I can do this. I realized that all this time I was so afraid because that’s what I was CHOOSING to tell myself.

 

So guess what: you have a choice. If there’s something that you’re afraid of or if you have fears you’re waiting to overcome, tell yourself a different story. It’s a lot easier for us to think about the negatives, but you have full control over the way you think.

 

I hope that some of you may be able to relate to this and you can work to change your perspectives on a few things. Oh, and just to be clear, I’m not afraid of thunderstorms anymore.