GOB!G Quote of the Day

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

We fear a 'thing' called nothing - laughable hey

Yes, fear stops no man. Fear, because it isn't a physical blockade standing tall and wide like the Great Wall of China, doesn't, in fact, stop any person - we stop ourselves. As people we choose to believe that fear stops us from doing this and that, from achieve our heart's desires. Fear is pure melancholy and no more. It's a feeling like any other and we can either choose to embrace it or let go of it and just be. The saddest thing is that after our brave, wonderous and adventourous child days, we become encultured, as adults, into embracing, and in fact, instilling fear into our once beautifully bravehearts. If you think of it, what we fear is in fact not there. We fear a 'thing' called nothing (wuuu, wuuuuuuuuu!) - isn't that laughable!

I feared so much to put down the first word of my novel - for years. The reason I feared was because I felt somewhat that I wasn't good enough. That I couldn't cut it (although no one told me this, I told myself that and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy). That I had to wait for something extra first to come and attach to me so I can become greater, a genius with some holy manna-type inspiration falling into my head to knock me into a 'capable' genius. But I thought hard and long about it. Searched deep and thorough.

The truth hit me: that those who put down their first words weren't geniuses. They weren't hit by some manna-type seed from up above. They started because they chose not to judge their future based on learnt and self-imposed inhibitions. With my deep-search, I realised that what I most fear isn't there. There is nothing. Just a smokescreen of melancholy in my mind that I invented over the years as life knocked me left, right and centre (and down too). But the only person that can knock me up is me. And with that, the first paragraph to my most debatable, bestseller novel was cast. And alas, fear, as I'd imagined, is nothing but a coward I invented. It wasn't there to stop me.

The reality of the situation is that everything else I need, every single resource that I need to sojourn into my dreams and capture them is already in me. It was there the moment I was born - just like you. Great people came to this earth like you and me. With no clothes, special hammer and chisel, etcetera etcetera. Just the natural resources inside each and everyone of us that we choose, which in turn assist us to either seize the moments in our lifes that come as windows of opportunity or to look fear in the eye (what eye?) and show it our heels.

David Taylor asks in his book, The Naked Coach: 'Can you walk into a maternity ward in a hospital full of newborn babies and honestly point to me the ones who are failures?'. I'll leave you to answer that one.

Perhaps we can both agree that our failures are learnt, so much as they can be unlearnt, if not, perhaps they can be used to inspire us to run forward, for if we've made fear this much strong in governing our lifes, then its anti-thesis, Courage, isn't getting invited to the party by us. How about the instant fear spookily cuts in, we invite Courage to come to the stage as well?

Remember one thing: What we fear is not there. We fear a 'thing' called nothing.

_Email this to a friend by clicking on the 'envelope' below_

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This bro is your best thought through artcle to date, it attacks the very reason why we dont do things, why we procastinate and why we Fail. Let us be defined by the bast we can be, not by the boxes humanity puts us in, because when it is a dreams one can see pray it can be and let nobody/nothing kill it because it is Free.

Izz said...

I personally haven't warn the battle and flung my flag to mark my winnings. It's a journey. But one thing I know for sure is the one thing I'll keep doing: Run towrds my fears. Because as coward, fear will not be there when I get there.

Admin UD said...

I wanna ask somn, do you do anything else apart from blogging and churning out award winning articles all the time!

Izz said...

Yes Ugo. I'm full-time web content manager. I write this pieces at 5am in the morning for flat out uninterrupted 30min of grace. Hence you may notice some typos here in there, like lives spelt lifes. I kick myself in the butt for such careless typos. But if I edited them, Feedburner resends them to my subscribers, which is obviously not good.

Heartwarmer said...

Fear is very real though Izz. I tend to disagree with your notion that it is nothing. It's real, and I think very important as well.
Think about the fear you have that you might get smashed and grabbed at the robot. There's a real chance that you might. So the fact that you don't stop at the light, or check all your mirrors and blindspots - might just mean the difference between getting home safe and getting hijacked.

Obviously you don't want somebody who's overly paranoid, but I think fear is good. It protects us at times. Like you may teach your kid to be afraid of burning from touching a heated stove. It's important that the child IS afraid that that might happen, otherwise...well burn, burn, burn.

My two cents.

Izz said...

I agree with you. But we missing one point, which I didn't make clear enough perhaps due to space:

The fear referred to hear is one that stands between us and our dreams or our best desired lifes. Hence the metaphor of the Great Wall of China. Hence my start of writing my novel.

Doubt not that I do fear to jump from a high rise free-fall. Let alone fearful, it's stupid. I fear touching the hot stove. I fear being robbed. I fear losing my job if I transgress. I fear the results of telling a very big man to 'fuck off'. I fear, in the physical form.

I hope it is clearer that fear can be distinguished from one against the other - just as much as love varies.

The fear of achieving is the one relevant and referred to here.

Thanks for highlighting this though.

Anonymous said...

We should put all our fears in God's hand. In John he says All who are burdened I will give you rest.

Esther Garvi said...

I think what you're talking about Izz is fear of making a fool of oneself, of not being taken seriously? Not "healthy fear" for different kinds of danger, the kind I often lack...

I'm really interested in following your development on this! As always, my personal passion... :-D

Take care, and make sure you get time between all your award-winning posts (as Ugo so nicely put it) and work to find time with that amazing family of yourself! Which by the way would not be procrastination, but quality time!

Izz said...

Hey, thanks for reminding me Ishtar, of the importance of spending time with the family. And that is my priority each and every day for that's why I exchange my strength. The Family Strength Exchange convenes, albeit naturally, each day to laugh at ass of life whilst smiling at the alluring beauty of its heart.