FEAR IS THE SIGN THAT I AM ALIVE

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly

Somewhere I had picked up this thought: “To be fearless is to be great.” Each day, I tired desperately to conquer fear. And, the more I tried to conquer fear, the more I experienced it, the more I became aware of it. Then, a wonderful book* told me: “You are only a human being; and, as long as you keep growing and learning, as long as you keep walking into unfamiliar territories, you shall always experience fear. Like you, all experience fear… all have so many unfamiliar territories to walk into… That’s a fact of life… Don’t kid yourself.”

“What should I do, then?” I asked.

“Nothing. Just accept the fact that it is natural to have fear… and experience it fully.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes. You can only learn to handle fear and conquer it. The only way you can learn to handle it is by doing the thing that you are afraid of.”

That’s it. I have, since then, stopped trying to conquer fear. I am constantly trying to handle it, by doing the thing that I am scared of, by walking into my unfamiliar territories. There are hundreds of such territories… and, I don’t think my one life-time is enough to handle them. I accept the fact that I am a growing and learning human being.

Fear is a sign that I am alive!

* ‘FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY’ -  by Susan Jafers

GERALD D’CUNHA

P.S.:

In 1990, THE DAWN CLUB had published a small book by the title – ‘The Zest’. It had carried some eighteen short and medium-sized passages written by me. The book instantly became one of our very popular books; and, eventually, it was reprinted several times.

We guess, one of the main reasons for its popularity was that it spoke to the reader in ‘first person’… He felt as though he was talking to himself… a soliloquy. Yes, the reader could instantly connect to the voice in the book… and, the message simply seeped into his heart!

The above passage – ‘FEAR’ – is a popular passage from the book.