What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear?
Consider that question, my friends and word-lovers.
What do I have to fear?
There is only one answer, and it is the same regardless of the cause of the question. It is the same answer for every person, for every living creature, since the dawn of time until the dusk of time, for this time and all other eternities that come to rise.
We have only one fear. It is deeply rooted in the deepest part of our deepest self, something so innate that even the basest of life forms possess this fear.
It is this: we fear failure.
Simple. We fear that we are about to fail. Corner a wild animal, and it will fear for its life. Why? Because it fears it is about to fail to protect itself, or its young, and its life will end with that failure.
Nobody is afraid of heights. We are afraid we will fail to remain at that height and fall. Ask a jumper if they fear the fall, and the answer is No. They fear the parachute will fail to open.
Do you see? Do you really, really see? We fear failure, and failure alone.
We fear asking a girl to dance, because we fear we will fail. We fear submitting our writing to publishers, because we fear we will fail. We fear spiders, because, well, I can't explain that one. Spiders are a category unto themselves.
But for everything else, we fear failure. I say often that successful people are too stupid to realize they could fail. They are FEARLESS.
I have nothing to fear. If you know my story, you know I lost my son last year at 18mos old. My worst fear, that I would fail to protect my children, was realized. For nine months now, my courage has gestated, until this month it was borne unto a greater cause, and I plunge fearlessly into a new phase of my life. I embrace my fear. I embrace the huge changes coming. I embrace the fact that I could fail, because I could fail, and that failure, no matter how catastrophic, is a tiny drop compared to the fear I have already faced with the loss of a child.
Perhaps that is a small part of God's will in this, and his words as I read them are these:
Hope is the better part of fear. Your success depends on which is greater.
Are you fearless? Do you embrace the fact that you could fail? Do you equally embrace hope that you could ~succeed~?
- Eric
Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel with WiDo Publishing, coming in 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications ** BE A SUPER-HERO! BE AN ORGAN DONOR! **
7 comments:
Eric, you got it! At the root of all fears is the basic fear of failure. The only way we truly fail though is to fail to try.
I failed too Eric. I failed my marriage. I failed at being an attached and connected person unguarded, but hell I tried. That doesn't say much in the face of your loss, but I friggin' FAILED with a capital F, and I don't know when something else will kick in with a new color, fresh flavor, but you give me hope that it will. One day I will wear a different t-shirt and the worm out letters F-A-I-L will be something the rest of the world just squints at...and maybe me too, cuz we did out best, eh Eric? Try we did. Gotta be worth something somewhere. H-O-P-E...new T-shirt. God willing. And of course He is.
Fear of success and fear of failure are twins to me. Two sides of the same event. Nothing risked, nothing gained.
I hope your fearlessness takes you far Eric.
......dhole
People are afraid of spiders because they can move swiftly, hide in your clothes, beds, dark spaces waiting to jump out at you, and kill you with one bite. At least, that's my rational. Of course, I won't stomp them, I have to put them outside where they belong. They are God's creatures after all and they eat the ugly bugs.
The only thing I am really afraid of is success. You know, the "big" kind. When I get everything I've ever dreamed of. Because then what do I work for, strive for, hope for?
I hope you and your family are doing well. I think of you often.
We fear spiders because we fail to kill them the first time we see them, the sneaky bastards.
I have spent a long time being afraid. Call it post traumatic BS from what happened to me as a kid, when I failed to be able to protect myself from my dad. Call it fear that I will fail at my acting career.
Call it fear that I will fail another marriage.
The truth is, you're right. There is nothing to be afraid of.
I'm working my ass off to get past this fear. I'm slaying my fear dragon daily.
I am hoping I am stronger than my fear. I can already see so much strength returning to you, Eric, and for that - I am so happy. Even though you went through hell to get here. You kept going.
Hugs.
Such an inspiring post.
Very true as well. The scary thing is, our fear of failure falls in two categories:
1) The failure would have a significant impact on one's life but an even bigger thing is made of it than it should be. An example: people fearing failure when they start a business. They only stand to lose money, but people seem to think it's more important than it is these days.
2) The impact of the failure is as big as people think, but there's nothing in human power that can prevent the failure from happening.
So basically, we spend our lives fearing and worrying about nothing or nothing that we can change.
Honestly, that's not a way to live. So I'm thrilled to know you're fighting against that fear.
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