Don't be afraid of the dark...

I was walking home from Lindy hop this evening and it made me think about the dark.
My colleagues at work keep telling me off because I generally walk home in the dark, they are worried that one of these day I will be attacked by some shifty character. Whilst I of course appreciate that they care this is not something I worry about but thinking about it I realise how much that means I've changed.
When I was young I was really afraid of the dark, I especially remember a period when I could not decide if it was best to keep my light on or off at night. My reasoning had something to do with that if the lights were off the monsters could sneak up on me but if the light were on well then they would know where I was, so yeah that was a complicated time for someone afraid of the dark. I would also be really afraid when cycling or walking to the bus stop in the morning during the darker part of the year and would cycle frantically to get away from anything scary, or whilst walking would try to look like I wasn't afraid (because whilst I could cycle quicker then the monster I couldn't run quicker then them).

But these days I really like the dark - sometimes I even take the long way home through the forest and then by the canal. To me the dark is just very peaceful, it's all quite with no annoying people around and whilst there might be shifty people hiding in the dark that I can't see they more then likely can't see me either. It's like for a short period time stands still and you are the only one left in existence.

When I was younger I found this Swedish called Don't be afraid of the dark (var inte rädd för mörkret) and whilst I would read it to myself when walking though the dark to stop myself from being afraid I now actually believe the words.