Boo to you!

Boo to you. Halloween may be over, but many of us still love the thrill of a good scare. Why is it that some of us like to scare others, even if we don't enjoy getting spooked?

In the house I grew up in, with three brothers, someone always had to be aware. One of us, or a visiting friend, was always just out of sight around a corner. If there was not an actual attempt to frighten someone, or if one of us wasn’t planning to stomp at or jump at someone just to gain a reaction, the thought was well-planted in the back of all our psyches and we feared what could be. More often than not, nothing happened.

But still the "Boo!" "Gotcha!" loomed ... followed by a scream or a grunt that hid a scream. Pure terror. Some love the adrenaline of the thrill of the what if, the dark tunnel, the yowl of some fanged creature. Some don’t love the sweaty palms and racing heart that travel along with that particular fight or flight stress.

Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with saying “He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” To that, I add the words of Nelson Mandela, “The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

I still jump when surprised and upon occasion let out a scream when startled, whether by critter, human or myself. But as Louisa May Alcott said, “I’m not afraid of the storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”

Go forth. Scare. Be scared. Sail on … Move beyond your fears ...