RobArt Penguin

Daily writing prompt

Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.

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As Frank Herbert once said, “Fear is the mind killer.” When I was young I was paralyzed by fear. I avoided many risks for fear of the consequences. Generally, this may sound okay, but many of those risks came with meeting new people, trying new careers, or exploring new places. I played it safe to avoid feeling fear and remained mostly isolated and lonely. It took me thirty years to put my writing into the world and I often think I would have done it much sooner if my reaction to fear was different. It’s not having fear, it’s reacting to it by freezing. Of course, sometimes immobility is the right response to fear. Such as, when I’m standing at some tracks and a train approaches, fear teaches me to standfast until it passes. That’s a good time to freeze. But that doesn’t happen too often. What I know now is that I can survive my fear and move forward in spite of it. That’s why I put a book out. I had tons of fear and I was tempted to retreat back into my cave, but I didn’t. Of course, my wife encouraging (prodding) me was a big factor in over coming my fear.