I spent many years being afraid of lots of things, including magpies.

I used to do the usual thing, if you can call it usual, every time I saw a magpie. Holding my breath, saluting, saying hello, you know the type of thing. It seems a bit crazy now, just for seeing a bird.

Anyway, in 2006 I was training for the New York City Marathon and needed to fit in a training walk/run of about 17 miles one weekend, when I was back in my hometown.

It used to seem quite big, my hometown, and I don’t say this in a patronising way, but it doesn’t seem so big anymore – especially when you try and cover 17 miles in and around it!

I found myself running towards the golf club. It’s just a few miles on the outskirts of town, but it used to seem like the end of my Earth, and it’s where my dear dad’s ashes were scattered a few months after he died in 1995.

My dad was a bit of a runner and I’d heard stories from him and others about his athletic prowess over many years, including once being able to walk on his hands, and of running a sub-40 min 10K so he could get to the pub in time for lunchtime closing!

I arrived in the golf club car park as I wanted to tell my dad about a few things – not least my forthcoming marathon. I’d not visited there for nearly 10 years but it seemed a good spot to chat and I thought what I had to tell him would make him proud. Funny the things we do, sometimes, isn’t it?

I wanted to spend a few quiet moments, talking to him in my head, looking at the remembrance garden from the car park. It all seemed very romantic. Until the magpies arrived.

Like many stories, it has maybe been a bit exaggerated over the years, but on a conservative estimate about seven magpies suddenly arrived at the remembrance garden.

Well, I couldn’t very well hold my breath, salute and say hello seven times whilst having my romantically-notioned moment making my dad proud, now, could I?

So, I gave up the fear of magpies. Just there and then. I chose to see magpies in a different way. No longer something to be afraid of and create rituals for.

I’d love to be able to tell you I gave up the fear of everything that can be changed just with your thoughts right there and then. I didn’t. But I started to. And now I always smile at magpies.