This is mostly true. But it’s not the whole story. Many of our fears are irrational. Take my fear of making phone calls for example. I’ve written about that before (a lot .. because it is irrational). I understand that making a phone call won’t make me unpopular or hated or have bad people try to scam me.

Sure that understanding helps but it doesn’t take away the fear. I have to see people’s faces and watch their body language to trust what they are saying. That comes from something in my childhood and despite a lot of intense IFS work, I don’t know what that part is protecting me from. But that’s ok too.

The concept behind the quote is true. And it’s interesting it’s from Marie Curie. She worked with radium (I believe) and worked very hard to understand it so others could too. She seemed to have no fear. Only a yearning to learn.

What if instead of caring what other people think, we adopted the motto of “Yearn to Learn”. You know I dislike cute sayings. But I couldn’t resist.

Make a list of your fears
Do the 5 whys on each – why do you fear it and then why to each deeper level
Ask are these fears rational?
If so, what can you do to overcome them
If not, can realizing that it isn’t rational make you fear it less? It may or may not (like mine) but I would imagine many of them will be a lot less powerful.

Try it. Make your list.