I am afraidallthe time.
Considering the world we live in, that’s not too surrpising.
Im scared of violence, of terrorism, of sexual assault, of climate change.
© D. Hurst / Alamy Stock Photo
Late at night, when myrealfears come to play, I worry about the people I love dying.
I mean, its all happened before, so whos to say it won’t happen again?
But thats just the thing: its all happened before.
© Barry Diomede / Alamy Stock Photo
All those horrible things have played out in my own life and in the lives of millions of others.
And Im still here writing this article, arent I?
And just like I survived these setbacks the first time, Id survive them again, wouldn’t I?
Eleanor Roosevelts age-old call to do one thing every day that scares you" became my daily mantra.
), its a sign that you’re headed in the right direction.
Leaning into choices that scare you lead to great rewardsor at the very least, teach you something important.
Until the scary things happened, that is.
A few years into my fear experiment, I was hit with a series of bombshells in close succession.
Each event was more out of the blue than the last, though none were particularly unique.
I got hurt pretty badly in a breakup.
A vital student loan fell through, and I left New York for a while to financially recover.
I lived in a string of toxic apartment situations that ended in sudden moves.
I discovered a web of family secrets.
The close timing of the events was crappy in this case, but they were fairly universal struggles.
Suddenly, my quaint little Eleanor Roosevelt quote felt like some serious bullshit.
Taking risks no longer felt beneficial or cute, it felt like stepping into a minefield.
Around this time, my mild worrywart tendencies exploded into constant thoughts of fear.
Sometimes, when I go out a limb and try something scary, I get hurt.
Turns out, it’s not the end of the world (who knew!).
That we’ll be embarrassed?
That we’ll fail (which issosubjective, by the way)?
Neither of those things will kill us.
I’m still working on it all the time.
