Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Timely Truth for an Overworked Worry Wart

Risk, fear and worry  
by Seth Godin Jul 24, 2012  
They're not the same.  
Risk is all around us. When we encounter potential points of failure, we're face to face with risk. And nothing courts risk more than art, the desire to do something for the first time--to make a difference.  
Fear is a natural reaction to risk. While risk is real and external, fear exists only in our imagination. Fear is the workout we give ourselves imagining what will happen if things don't work out.  
And worry? Worry is the hard work of actively (and mentally) working against the fear. Worry is our effort to imagine every possible way to avoid the outcome that is causing us fear, and failing that, to survive the thing that we fear if it comes to fruition.  
If you've persuaded yourself that risk is sufficient cause for fear, and that fear is sufficient cause for worry, you're in for some long nights and soon you'll abandon your art out of exhaustion. 
On the other hand, you can choose to see the three as completely separate phenomena, and realize that it's possible to have risk (a good thing) without debilitating fear or its best friend, obsessive worry.  
Separate first, eliminate false causation, then go ahead and do your best work. 
So timely. My worries and my fears need a permanent vacation, especially now as our family faces even more uncertainty. Hopefully this will help others as well. 


~vbb

1 comment:

Celeste B. said...

Good advice! I took a class on parenting and they talked extensively on the difference in parenting from fear and parenting from love. It was very eye opening to me that so many of us base our decisions on the fear rather than objectively operating from a place of love, allowing that risk is all around us and is an outside event or force.