One of the most important human feeling that challenges beliefs, self-confidence and capability is fear. What is fear ? For me, fear originates in doubt. The moment I doubt something, I fear. Fear is not getting afraid and crouching. Fear can also manifest in aggression and ability to accept.
I used to watch a US sitcom very popular in the world - FRIENDS. There's an episode on how the actors react when they turned 30. Hmm, the revelation dawned upon me only lately. Turning 30 is a huge milestone. If I were to approximate human life to approximately 60 years (arguable), I have spent half my life. I am going through my checklist of "things to do" and I realize, there's a lot to catch up to.
So how does FEAR come into picture ?
Even after turning 30, I still have to cope up with FEAR. I fear if I will be able to fulfill my dreams. When I do that, I let my dreams fade away little by little. When I think about saying what I feel frankly, I fear how the other person might react. I fear about giving up something dear to my heart to attain something else. I fear failure, I fear imperfection. I fear to start all over again. I fear to mend the relationships, I fear status, I fear judgements. FEAR is so overpowering.
The moment FEAR becomes too big to handle, I close my eyes, think about the people I love most and God. It gives me immense strength. It gives me courage to fight that doubt. The moment I am certain, my mind becomes clear and I get going once again.
So why does FEAR creep in ?
Because sometimes we forget our philosophy with which we started, the reason why we started upon a journey and the objective that we intended to achieve. I believe, most people and civilizations that started off greatly perished on the way because they forgot the very idea that got them going - the very engine that revved up their progress. This idea, the engine needs a lot of care. If you don't care for the engine but just want to pedal down to success at a lot of MPH, you gonna ruin the engine en-route the journey before the destination is reached. Most of us make this mistake.
Care for the idea, the dream you started out with. Believe in it and it will eventually come your way. Sometimes, it's a good idea to revisit the starting point. Probably that's why, history is an important subject.
As for me, I am going to go after the checklist I made.
Harpreet
3 comments:
Very Well said. But I thinks that there is another dimension of fear. Fear is not a "villain". Fear makes you think twice before you do something specially for those who don't think before speaking. Sometimes, its beneficial. Fear make you learn ( specially true for engineering students).
Fear can make you realize your priorities and can make you courageous. Its look contradictory but I think that courage is not absence of fear rather the judgement that something is more important than fear.
Nicely written. You have successfully managed to put your thoughts into words. I truly appreciate your effort and thoughts.
However, I don't think this is the complete picture. This article focuses only on your experiences, your opinion and how to lead your life. It misses people around you! You have to make sure that people around you are also on the bus as you. Especially the people who are dependent on you, people you are responsible for, because they have their own vision and their own life to lead and you have to make sure that all of their dreams also come true along with your own dream and most often there is a conflict. This article doesn't talk about how to realize your dream collectively as team. This article doesn't talk about consequences on people around you IF you fail in pursuit of YOUR dreams.
That was my two cents.
@Ashutosh, I don't disagree with you categorically but what I think you are pointing at caution rather than fear. Caution is good but fear is detrimental. And I am with you on judgement. Yet again, I think it's the fear of being "judged" that plays on our mind.
@Anonymous, I feel you know me more than I would want to if I don't know you in person :). The point that you have put forward is absolutely crucial in attainment of a dream. A dream's fulfillment depends on the conviction of the person and the people he depends on. It may be family, friends or colleagues. Somewhere in the article, I mentioned a checklist. The checklist is to make sure exactly what you pointed out. In the attainment of the dreams that I pursue, I have to make sure that the people I care about are as convinced as I am in the attainment of the dream and I don't neglect THEM or THEIR DREAMS.
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