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The Death of Fear

The Death of Fear

Facing demons, big and small

Jun 07, 2025
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The Death of Fear
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“Do something every day that scares you.” So goes an aphorism made popular by social media. I haven’t found an attribution for that quote yet, but Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote something similar: “Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.”

I’m not sure about the “every day” part in the first quote. That’s a tall order for most of us who lead largely predictable lives, unless commuting home amidst ever larger vehicles driven by distracted people counts as scary. I’d like to think that a few scary sessions per year would keep fear at bay, by Emerson’s logic. I used to think that “scary” meant climbing mountains, swimming in shark-populated (let’s stop using the word, infested) water, or diving deep inside a shipwreck. And sure, those things count, but they require a lot of forethought, often training, and sometimes considerable expense.

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