Art Garfunkel (yes, from Simon & Garfunkel) once said, “everything worth doing starts with being scared.” This made me wonder how many worthwhile actions are abandoned each day because someone is consumed by that fear. In essence, do we sabotage our own success? In my opinion, a certain amount of fear is good in most situations. It makes you assess situations and weigh alternatives. Fear, however, may also consume you and prevent you from acting.
This statement made me wonder: when has fear strengthened my resolve and when has fear caused me to reassess or abandon an idea? This means any fear—fear of failure, embarrassment, and sometimes even fear of success. The two big things that came to my mind were having children and starting my own business.
I’m not going to lie; the thought of having children scares me. I’ll admit I do not have the first clue what I would do with a baby. My husband, however, wants four kids—FOUR! Now, to some people four kids is not a lot, but to me it would be complete overwhelming. When we decided to get married, we were both very open with our family goals and realized that this would be an issue we’d have to work through. In the course of our conversations, I realized my fear may have resulted from considering the momentous responsibility that having kids is. This, however, is far outweighed by the amazing experience and reward of having children. Once I realized it was fear that was making me resistant, I embraced the idea of having kids (eventually, and NOT four).
The next situation is whether or not to start a business. I have an M.B.A. and while it is not the right time for me, I have often tossed the idea around of starting my own business. This is always followed by questions of doubt—What if I fail? What if no one likes my idea? Will it be too hard? Would I ever understand all the legalese surrounding businesses? What about potential liability? These questions, however, represent the fear that comes from contemplating something worthwhile. Also, if I never try, I’ll never know.
I have concluded that fear can be useful emotion, one that forces you to fully assess a situation. But if you let fear paralyze you, you miss out on life. What worthwhile endeavors have you let fear prevent you from trying? And what are you going to do to change that?
Photo credit, DCist
