Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear
Mark Twain
Do you feel that you are tiptoeing around almost everything these days? I do.
Most of us have already been battling perfectionism and the urge to “keeping up with the Joneses”. The burden to “be doing the right things” has just gotten much, much bigger with the global pandemic and rise of anti-racism movements.
Have we washed our hands for 20 seconds or longer? Have we been following *all* the public health recommendations? Are we being helpful and supportive enough during this time? Are we doing enough to promote diversity and inclusion? Have I used the correct terms in *all* of my speech?
The list goes on and on. Some day the anxiety gets so overwhelming we might feel that we are better off staying in bed. No action taken means no mistakes made.
But as human beings we are social creatures. We are also prone to errors.
We should always be cautious and think before we act. Our fear mechanism works exactly to prevent us from committing something dangerous. We live in a very challenging period right now, and it’s only normal to feel fearful. Forgive yourself for feeling it.
Don’t let fear overrun you, mistakes are bound to be made at some points. Forgive yourself for those little missteps.
As American philosopher Ken Wilber pointed out, transcendence and inclusion is how we grow. We do not need to erase the past mistakes. Rather, accept them for being part of our history. Most importantly, learn from the mistakes, let them empower us and guide us to the right direction.
Further reading:
Alice Boyes, “How to Overcome Your Fear of Making Mistakes”