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Are
Are you running scared?
I got inspired today about the role that fear plays in life. Nobody wants fear and we all do anything we can to avoid it but in spite of everything it comes anyway. I was reading a blogger I follow who was musing about fear. For a twenty year old she had an incredible understanding of how important fear is both as a motivator and inhibitor of activity. Too little fear and we just sit around in comfortable complacency doing nothing and going nowhere. Too much fear and we huddle in a corner, too afraid to move. But the right amount of fear can make you do amazing things.
Serendipity strikes!
Serendipity amazes me all the time. And I work hard to keep serendipity in my retirement lifestyle. No sooner had I read Heather’s thinking about fear than I stumbled upon somebody else talking about fear. Merlin Mann has been a favorite of mine for some time but because he posts infrequently, I forget to check. Today I found him talking about being Scared Shitless and how even being scared shitless didn’t stop him from moving on and taking chances.
They can’t eat you!
Remember all the important stages in your life? Remember how flat out scared you were- maybe when you went to college or started working or took a new job or got married or moved across the country. Well it all worked out and being scared was a big part of your success. So now that you are retired, is there anything that scares you? If there isn’t then just accept that you are already dead and watch TV until somebody notices. Watch this first. Maybe it will help.
If you are scared then there is hope for you yet. What are you scared of? Is it stopping you or driving you on? Are you afraid to have better relationships with your family. Are you afraid to do something new? Are you afraid of being laughed at? Turn that around and make the feat the reason for pushing on.
Thanks Ralph!
As said 20 year old I can’t really answer your question in a retirement context, but what makes me scared right now is the possibility of doing nothing but sit at a computer screen all my life. We discussed this briefly =)
Hope you get a ton of comments, its an interesting topic and Merlin’s video is great.
Heather,
Thanks for the inspiration. Somehow I don’t think you will hide yourself behind a computer screen. What else are you scared of and is it keeping you from living an adventure?
Love issues (yep, twenty and I’ve got some of those). Suppose my main fear is one we all share at some point or another; not wanting to be alone.
Course I’m in the process of saying ‘Stuff it’ and wandering off to train as an outdoor adventure coach.
Heather’s last Blog Post ..Idle Musings &8211 Fear
Heather,
It was that fear that drove me to an outrageous performance at a Halloween party where I met my wife.
Sounds like an excellent blog post in the making. =)
Ralph…I’ll try again to watch the video. Maybe when I’m in a different mood I’ll get something, but right now (after 8 min) all I get is gratuitous crudeness. I can be as crude as the next guy, but rarely just to shock.
Ah well…the topic…fear. I can’t say I’m never scared (that would mean I’m dead and just haven’t laid (lain?) down yet, right?), but I try to hold it to a minimum. I learned a few years back that anger, ALL anger, is fear based, and since I don’t need or want any (extra) anger I try to9 avoid external causes. Except politics. That external cause I embrace lovingly. Oh yeah…that and wimmin who hate successful wimmin (inside joke folks…Ralph can expand if he wants).
Bob@JuicyMaters’s last Blog Post ..Putting in a garden and “putting by”
Trying to expand on Bob’s train of thought is like pruning a tree while sitting on a branch.
Just re-read my comment…incomplete, disjointed, and made nosense or got to the point. Sorry. Better next time.
Note to Ralph…not to worry…it’s not due to my past issue from a few years back…more like last weekends problems raising their head.
Bob@JuicyMaters’s last Blog Post ..Amending soil- Paying down principle or just paying interest
Ralph…Everything in life is scary right now, especially when ya get to the finish line.
Hansi’s last Blog Post ..Hansi- the Farting P O
Hansi,
Maybe this is semantic quibbling but to me the finish line is where it’s all over. Too late for scared.