Hey there,

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This one is about putting yourself out there.

 

Like most kids, I was afraid of the dark, but I was never able to pinpoint the specifics. After years of intermittently deliberating on the issue, I concluded that I wasn’t afraid of darkness, but of the uncertainty. You never know what (or who) is behind that veil of black. I think that was the worst part - the fear of not knowing.

I’m not afraid of the dark anymore. It’s easy to grow out of that fear when you discover flashlights. But I’m still afraid of uncertainty in general. In a world where it’s easy to know about things with a single click, it’s the unknown that’s truly terrifying.

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All three of my flashlights died one night. As I sat there, blanketed by darkness, I marshaled my nerves to frivolously move my limbs, hoping that that would eventually leading me to the power backup. And those five minutes of vulnerability were my own version of Lara Croft’s Tomb Raider.

And would you believe it, nothing happened! Nothing at all. And now I realize, it’s not healthy to stay in the dark about confronting these irrational fears. Bad puns aside, finding my way through the darkness sucked but doing something about it made it definitely sucked less.

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Pushing things off only delays the inevitable consequences and I’m starting to realize it does far more harm than good. So, if you’re anything like me, you’ll find solace in this.

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Whatever you think is the worst possible thing that could happen… if you actually put yourself out there, it is always, and I mean always, better than not doing anything at all.

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