Hope and Fear

It’s hard to imagine a time filled with more fear and less certainty.

Our daily routines are now anything but.

Markets are in turmoil and job losses are mounting.

Some of the businesses and organizations we love edge ever closer to the precipice and there is a growing realization that many will not recover.

Millions legitimately wonder how they will pay for the very basics of everyday living.

All of this comes amid a backdrop of ever growing numbers of people getting very sick and even dying. What if it’s a friend? Or colleague? Or family member? What if it’s me?

Many of us find ourselves developing a borderline obsession with the news, spinning through endless “what if” scenarios, picking pointless fights on social media and generally worrying about the very many things we cannot control.

If you are anything like me, you may find it all too easy to be seduced by the fear, to become very much overwhelmed.

Yet as Seth reminds us, people rarely say “I wish I’d panicked more.”

Every moment we get to make a choice. We can let fear be the wolf we feed. Or not.

As but one option, we could channel our anxiety into listing those things we might regret not doing during this time. And maybe, just maybe, rather than sitting in our fear we might start working our way through that list, reminding ourselves that we do this not out of perfectionism-or the mere desire to fill the void-but, instead, driven by love and compassion, an innate desire for connection and a generosity of spirit.

We are given but one wild and precious life. So much of what happens is out of our control. But, thankfully, some is not.

As is often the case, Maya Angelou says it best: “Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Invite one to stay.”

Published By

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.