What Are You So Afraid Of? Yourself
Embrace Your Potentialities
Welcome to the YouTopian Journey. Each week I will be sharing unique wisdom as well as a more in-depth overview of the artwork that is featured on the Instagram @youtopianjourney. This week we discuss the fear of one’s greatness, A.K.A. the Jonah Complex, and why you must embrace your potentialities in order to become the best version of yourself.
THE AGE OF FEAR
“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.”-Rudyard Kipling
We live in an age of anxiety, an age of uncertainty, and an age of fear. We are fearful of the pandemic, fearful of the vaccines, fearful of the job market, fearful of our bosses, fearful of the future, and fearful of the unknown. We are afraid of taking chances, afraid of standing out, and afraid of failing. This echoes the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote in Self-Reliance:
“We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Not much has changed since Emerson wrote those words, except that society has become more fearful and weaker. And the greatest fear the modern individual faces?
The fear of actually succeeding in our endeavors! The fear of becoming something more than we currently are.
Yes!
We are fearful of what we can become! The possibilities of success that await us! The realization that our inner fantasies will become outer realities!
We are afraid of our own greatness!
We cannot possibly imagine the consequences of our own success because of the difficulties and fears that stand before us.
We talked about the importance of courage in the past, but one cannot engage in courageous behavior without discussing fear. Not the fear found in some shadowy abyss, but the fear within our own possibilities. The fear that exists within our potentialities and capabilities of truly becoming so much more than what we are.
Realize that the individual is capable of anything, but the majority operate at such a low capacity that their potentialities are dulled. They waste the opportunities that are before them. Wasted minutes turn into wasted hours and then wasted days. So much time wasted and so many opportunities avoided. All from a refusal to embrace the possibilities within! All of this stemming from fear.
The result of this fear? Many remain frozen in place, not for a season, but for life. A true tragedy.