The Right Amount of Fear
Sean Moore
With two pinches of perserverance & a dash of determination.
Every paragraph and sentence, every letter and word I write is done so under extreme duress. Not at gunpoint, nor at the insistence of masked captors; the coercion is self-inflicted.
Make no mistake - I take great pleasure in writing. There is no more effective means of distilling and concentrating thought, no more poignant way to construct compelling argument. It takes great passion to step outside our comfort zones and to rush head first into something that can fail miserably.
But passion isn’t enough. Desire will make sure you burst through the door, ablaze with newfound fervor. And while passion never fades, it does get harder to draw energy from the reservoir. Something sustaining must take its place. Enter fear, stage left.
Why though?
Why is it that fear claws its way into the empty void that passion leaves as work goes from novel and intriguing to just an everyday occurrence. Isn’t it enough to be genuinely motivated to do something incredible?
And yet it is fear that inevitably provides that motivation continue. Fear that successes cannot be replicated. Fear that there is nothing interesting to say, or that there is no interesting way to say it. Fear that the wonderfully courageous people that took a chance and read my writing will no longer enjoy it, and turn their backs.
Success is little more than a series of small failures, spread out over longer periods of time. Fear is essential in making those intervals lengthen and those failures overcome.