Good fear, bad fear.

I love pushing the edges of who I am or what I think I know about myself. It’s part of how I’m built. The thrill of a new life experience is titillating to me because I know that the person I am at the start of the experience is not the same person I will be at the end. This, to me, is the very purpose of life. Using it to stretch our identities, to feel new feelings, to experience the richness of becoming, whether through victory or defeat. In my book, a life without fear is a life without challenge, a life without challenge is a life without growth, and a life without growth is just plain boring. It’s eating the same goddamn meal every single day. We all know the feeling of primal fear – the kind that saves us from our own demise. It’s instinctive and existential. But it’s sometimes hard to distinguish from good fear, the fear of nervousness and excitement when venturing into the unknown, and bad fear, the rush of adrenaline caused by an amygdala that’s been hijacked by negative thoughts and possibilities trolling your mind. It’s only recently that I learned there was a difference between good fear (constructive fear) and bad fear (destructive fear) through the work of Paul Selig and The Guides. And ever since they explained the concept of good fear, the titillating fear, and how it’s there to guide us to where our soul wants to go for adventure and aliveness, I’ve started following the good fear. Follow the good fear. You’ll never be disappointed.