Moving to a new city alone is scary for a few weeks. Never trying can be regretted for decades.
RESILIENCE
WHAT THIS MEANS
Fear and regret run on different clocks, which is why they are hard to compare in the moment. The fear of a new place is loud and short, with a shape to it: a few weeks of not knowing where anything is. Regret is quiet and long, and it does not fade, because an option you never took keeps looking perfect forever.
Write down how many weeks the frightening part would actually last. Under it, write how many years you would spend wondering. If the second number is larger, you already have your answer.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Would you regret trying more than you would regret staying?
MORE IN COURAGE & RISK
- Asking someone to dance is a thirty-second risk. Sitting out the whole night is a three-hour one.
- The start line at cross-country is just three hundred nervous people pretending they aren’t. You’re in good company.
- The scariest part of sparring is the first bow. After the first exchange, your brain gets too busy to be scared.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.