The Road Less Travelled

2025-06-08

“The fearful are caught as often as the bold.”

This quote by Helen Keller caught my eye recently as I was thinking about fear.

The thing about fear is that it’s so easy to get hung up on. Our minds and bodies like comfort and security. Uncertainty and unknown can be dangerous.

Current theories suggest that fear is likely a genetic predisposition or a reaction to a traumatic event in the past.

I can personally see both of these in my lived experience. I’ve been fearful of a specific animal that shall not be named since I can remember. I’ve also become more likely to fear certain situations, sounds, or events that I associate with traumatic events.

Some fear feels almost innate, and some feels learned.

But more recently, I’ve been viewing fear as a dangerous path that can lead to stagnation and missed opportunities.

I also saw that a 2019 study found that 40% of surveyed working adults said they have a fear of failure and making mistakes between 20-40% of the time — or more.

That’s a lot of fear for a whole lot of time.

And yet, as Keller said, misfortune could also happen to those who avoid rather than act.

Then, I heard in passing how someone said that they are often afraid, but they take action because they are more afraid of stagnation rather than failure.

This view of fear has stuck with me ever since.

It got real personal recently when I was given the opportunity to take a +13-hour flight to Malaysia. Yes, I do not enjoy flying.

So, I nearly turned down this opportunity due to my fears. But I didn’t. I took that flight because I questioned what I really fear.

Instead of being afraid of the flight or what could go wrong, I convinced myself to be more afraid of missing out on new experiences and encounters. My comfort zone is nice but it isn’t exciting.

I told myself that there was no real growth on the sofa. You don’t build muscle by staying still.

Stagnation and lack of growth started to scare me much more than taking action and possibly failing.

And as I was flying in the blue skies, I looked back on many of the moments of growth in my life. The reality is that it’s always been these moments of taking the plunge that have led to growth and new discoveries.

I’m the first to admit that it seemed easier when I was younger.

I moved to a different country, put myself in leadership positions—heck, I even began working as a freelancer. And that, I can tell you, can be very scary indeed.

As I settled into adult life, I started to settle a bit too much into the comfortable and the known.

And yet, even in that comfort zone, bad things sometimes happened. Sometimes I didn’t get the contract I really wanted, sometimes family and friends faced unfathomable illnesses and setbacks, relationships were broken and lost.

Life happened. And it happened all the same whether I felt fearful or ‘courageous’.

I’ve been hurt when I’ve taken action and fallen flat on my face. But I’ve also been hurt when I’ve been fearful and avoided things.

The comfort zone isn’t indestructible. The regrets for not taking action are so much louder than the mishaps you make.

Fear has a purpose.

But it’s important to listen to that fear and see what it tells you.

Whenever I find myself fearful and wanting to avoid an action, I try to pause. To take a hard look at what I am actually afraid of, and, more importantly, to see what inaction is going to rob me of.

Fears can be a great mover and motivator. You just need to frame them right. And it doesn’t mean turning into a superhero. You don’t need to do all the things all the time or go wrestle with bears.

Just have a bit of Hellen Keller’s attitude with you next time you want to stay in the comfort zone.