My parents had gone out for a doctor’s appointment. They were supposed to be back by 7 pm. It was 9 pm and they still hadn’t returned, I started feeling restless. I kept looking out the window, my mind racing with worries. What if they’d been in an accident? How would I find out? Who could I call? Who would help me at this late hour? What would I do without them? Who would pay my school fees? Who would take care of me?

As these fears grew louder in my mind, tears began to roll down my cheeks. At 10 pm, the doorbell finally rang. I ran to open the door—it was my parents. Relief washed over me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how, for over an hour, I had been trapped in a storm of imagined fears, restless and overwhelmed.

How often does this happen to us? Our thoughts wander to places we never intended, often without us even realizing it. Sometimes, those thoughts are dark, frightening, and completely unnecessary—they spoil our peace and drain our energy. The truth is, most of these worries aren’t real. They exist only in our minds, and all they do is cause us stress.

The moment you catch your mind racing with a train of thoughts filled with fear and worry, don’t let it run wild, stop the train before it derails your peace. Take control and pull the alarm chain.

What small step can you take today to stop negative thoughts from taking over?