Forget Security, Live for experience
Feb 12, 2020
What are you afraid of? I thought I was afraid of going broke, but I was afraid of failing in front of an audience. It wasn't starvation that scared me, it was embarrassment. Most of our fears these days aren't related to our actual survival, but instead, they're fears of disappointing others, or feeling like less of a person compared to all the pretend happy people on social media.
We fear heartbreak and rejection.
We fear judgement and criticism.
Some think the solution to all of this is to overcome fear, like it's some level in a video game, but it's not. Fear can be a friend, identifying fears will help turn fear into a compass. We could fear dying without actually living. There are so many experiences that can be had on this planet, but we're all so busy trying to solve problems in hopes that our brains will finally find some peace and security- it won't.
In the same interview I quoted of Will Smith, he tells Oprah that he still goes to bed with financial worries, it's not because he doesn't have enough money, but because, that's what we do, we worry; we're worrying machines. Maybe if we respect this to be a part of our nature, the way we respect that we have to sleep and eat, we can live despite it, and not devoting all our time to remedy and pacify it.
There will always be unanswered questions in life, and there will always be people ready to sell you something promising to solve them all, but as Frank Herbert says, “The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.” so stop racking your wonderful brain trying to live a Disney happy ending, and instead make a bucket list of experiences you want to have. #BLESS