Life can sometimes be scary, even when you’re four years old.

As we roll into October, I know many of us are gearing up for the scariest night of the year, Halloween. I must admit, as a child I was into the trick-or-treat thing and all the candy my mom would allow me to consume but never crazy about the scary stuff.

However, as I got older, the onset of haunted houses had many folks clambering to pay real money to go through these places to have the living bejeebers scared out of them.

And I found myself, from time to time, caving into peer pressure. And more often than not, I found the situation to be less scary than my imagination led me to believe.

Through the years, I have found that to be the case in many situations I deemed as scary especially when it came to the unknown.

I have read that at least 80 percent of what we worry about or fear, never happens, and of those fearful events that actually do occur, it’s usually not as bad as we initially thought.

Okay, I’m no psychologist, but I do think there is a lot of truth to the fact that most things we dread are usually not worth the worry or the fright that plagues us. 

A recent discussion with my four-year-old granddaughter brought this subject to mind. My oldest son and his family are relocating due to a job change. They will be closer to my home, which is great for me, but they are leaving a place in which they have lived for several years, which is a bit unnerving for them.

My granddaughter said she is scared to go to a new daycare, misses her friends, and is afraid she won't make new ones.

That may seem trivial for us adults, but life can sometimes be scary, even when you’re four years old.

Upon hearing this. I told her a story about having to move when I was very young and how afraid I was to attend a new school not knowing anyone there. It was, at the time, the scariest thing I had lived through.

And quite honestly, I was petrified. But I relayed to my granddaughter how I overcame my fears when I met someone who would turn out to be one of my closest friends in life, and how much I liked my new school.

There had never really been anything to be afraid of after all. I’m not sure I calmed her fears much with this story, but I came away hoping it helped and being thankful to have that time with her.  

I realize that life at four or even 63 can be a bit scary at times and of course, the fear we experience is not worth the worry at all.

Now, don’t expect me to be in line at this year’s local haunted house, but rest assured that I still would rather have the Halloween candy, as I travel down the backroads.

Tim Thornberry

Editor, KFB News