The most fascinating thing about fear that I think not often discussed is that… it only happens when we’re not experiencing danger in real-time.

In other words, whatever it is that we feel afraid of, it’s not happening yet. Our minds are just preparing us. It’s a warning. It’s life giving us a sneak peek. And since it’s the modern world — where there’s no real danger in front of us, unlike our ancestors — we default into overthinking.

Overthinking is our worst enemy. Overthinking is fear in disguise. Overthinking is hiding.

The bad news is that most of the time, we’re not aware we’re already overthinking.

But when we are in the arena, fear won’t register. It’s easy not to feel any fear. Why? Because there’s real danger in front of us. We are in it. We are one with life. And so, action becomes our default.

Action, then, becomes the only option.

This is enlightening. It reveals that fear feeds on inaction. Every time we feel fear and we don’t act, the fear becomes stronger. And the more we think about what we fear, the more we feed that fear. The opposite is always taking action. It’s probably not the best course of action right away, but at least we’re moving. And that’s how we learn.