I went to Disneyland recently along with my two sons, Bentley and Nico. It was a great day, I loved every minute of it, but what struck me was the difference in this visit now that the guys are ‘twenty somethings’. There were no diaper bags or bottles to carry around, no strollers to navigate in the crowds, no worrying about losing them. This time it was wonderful just racing through both parks, enjoying every ride at least once. What was most interesting to me, however, was that several times the guys mentioned how different things seemed than when they had visited as small children. The enormous castle had somehow shrunk over time, the scary rides were not so scary, and now they were the crazy “big” guys on the teacup ride trying to spin as fast as humanly possible.

But the magic was still there, it always will be.

Disneyland does have a magic all its own, and we always loved our visits. One year in particular does stand out though. When Nico was 6 or 7 years old he went on the Matterhorn roller coaster, it terrified him. Well, it wasn’t the ride exactly, it was the abominable snowman that lurks ready to pounce on, and eat unsuspecting young children. Nico got off that ride and we never got him back on it again…until this visit.

This was the year that he would ride that roller coaster and laugh in the face of his old nemesis, that dreaded Yeti. True to his word he did exactly that. Of course his reaction was one of wonder that he had spent so many years afraid of what is actually very harmless. But what a great lesson. How many of us continue to hide from our personal Yeti, embellishing it with far more power than it deserves. We feed the monster with our fear until it becomes an insurmountable foe.

Although many of our fears seem so real and, well frightening, in the calm light of day we can realize that it is our mind, our imagination that has ascribed them so much dread. It is that same mind and imagination that can face and overcome the fear. It is normal to feel fear, we all do, but it’s what we do with those fears that sort the men from the boys, the women from the girls. Pushing through fear and conquering the Yeti can be one of the most liberating things we can do for ourselves.

And who would have thought a day in Disneyland would teach me all that…Magical!