I happened across Alex Bogusky’s posterous yesterday and his sub-line stuck with me:
Fear is the mortal enemy of creativity, innovation and happiness.
Too true.
As it prattled around in my head during my run this morning it struck me that fear is death. It’s an insatiable beast that tries to consume everything it encounters. It sucks energy out of us and pulls us back from progress. It makes us cower. In big ways and little ways. And each time we do a little bit of us or our relationships die.
But fear is also an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to uncover and let go something that pulls us back from life. It’s what the fear really wants and the only thing that will satisfy it.
In either case it means something has to die. Fortunately, the choice is ours. And for me, life depends on it.
UPDATE 100808: Thought some more about fear on my run yesterday. Fighting fear is futile, it will just show up elsewhere. It’s choosing to go forward while the fear is there. Let the fear be. Watch it, understand it, but don’t let it stop you from what you want to do. And definitely, don’t try and stop others from doing what they want to do because of it. Those are sure recipes for rot and decay.