 |
| The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. (Capricho No 43). Found in the collection of State Hermitage, St. Petersburg. Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images |
Mine would be that I have lived a life of fear. My fear is this of being a failure and causing disappointment.
I always wanted not to fail. But I never wanted to succeed.
I always wanted not to disappoint. But I never wanted to make someone proud of me.
My entire life has been marked by fear. Or lack of courage.
Recently I was listening to Simon Sinek (again). This time the talk was about leadership. Simon believes that a great leader is not defined by charisma or vision, but by courage.
Does this apply to all of us? Maybe.
Even if we do not lead anyone at work, we still need to manage our own life trajectory or this of our families. If we do not have courage, then we would fail at least on a personal, if not professional, level.
To a great extent, courage depends upon our financial situation. Do you have enough to live, if your courage brings a failure? If the answer is yes, then you could afford to be courageous.
At the other end of the spectrum – if you have nothing to lose, courage is also easily achievable.
The best example is this by J.K. Rowling. During her Harvard Commencement, she talked about the benefits of failure.
The biggest revelation was that when one hits rock bottom, the fear of failure fizzles away.
When there is nothing to lose anymore, courage emerges. Rowling said, “rock bottom became solid foundation, on which I rebuilt my life”. And further, “Failure, is inevitable unless you live so cautiously that you might as well have not lived at all. And this is a failure by default.”
Is my entire life a failure by default? Am I ever going to gather the courage I need to taste a real life, life without fear? The next years will put me to the test. At present, I am stuck in the middle between having too little to be courageous, and having too much to lose.
No comments:
Post a Comment