Fear and Avoidance

If you pay attention, you may find that it is not fear that stops you from doing the brave and true thing in your daily life. Rather the problem is avoidance. You want to feel comfortable, so you avoid doing the thing that will evoke fear and other disquieting emotions. Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run, but it will never make you feel less afraid.
~~Harriet Lerner, Ph.D, "Fear and Other Uninvited Guests"

For most of us, there's enough struggle just living a regular life. Who needs to go forth and battle dragons?

But we're also powerfully drawn to the idea of living a life emblazoned with passion. I think that's mostly because we're aware of the abyss of meaninglesness that can so easily lie at our feet. You know- like when out of the corner of your mind's eye you catch a glimpse of the idea that you're born, you work, you have a few laughs, and then you die, and what was it all for? Sometimes I think it's the best people among us who are more prone to a hunger for meaning. They sense that life can be most full of life when it's based on a struggle to make life better.

So part of us hungers for a sense of mission, part of us fears the cost. Usually it's the fear part of us that wins. Everyday life is in the driver's seat. We live, we laugh, we take things as they come. And that's okay.
~~Mira Kirshenbaum, "Everything Happens for a Reason"

#