Fear of the Unknown

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about this idea. Seems there are people in my life who I’ve always known were fearful of changes or unknown situations. Recently I’ve found myself watching them be presented with interesting opportunities, and talking themselves out of even attempting them.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I spent plenty of time in my life doing the same exact thing, so I’ve not much room to talk on the subject, but as I look back on those experiences, I’m fairly sure that many times I got over that fear because there was someone there pushing me, while also reassuring me that I would be alright if things didn’t turn out well.

I’m not sure how to help others over this fear, but it saddens me. It’s easy to convince ourselves that something new is scary, and dangerous. Sometimes it is, and sometimes there are legitimate reasons to be nervous about doing it. Often times, though, the worse thing that could happen, really isn’t that bad, yet we convince ourselves that it is. Sometimes, the biggest price you pay is some time wasted trying something new that doesn’t turn out that great, when we have plenty of free time that we fritter away on other activities that aren’t really making us that happy, but are comfortable and routine, so we keep right on doing them.

I like my routine, and I cherish my down time, my time to decompress especially. On the other hand, I want to be able to do new things, and have new experiences that help make life more interesting. It’s those experiences that teach me about life, and being a better person. They give me things to write about, things I want to either share with my wife, or run home and tell her about., and things I can tell stories about to our friends. Sometimes those stories cause my friends to laugh at me, but if that’s the worst thing that happens, so be it. I’ve lived through a hell of a lot more difficult things than that! I’m betting most of you have too.