Stop avoiding what you fear and practice existential courage

Hello my friend. You tell me that you are anxious and afraid of so many things that it paralyzes you. Well, this is a very common thing. There is so much in life to be afraid about, so many challenges, so many dangers, so many difficulties, that it is quite easy to become uptight in the way you live, and to restrict your movement more and more. And of course, the paradoxical truth is that the more you restrict yourself in a protective way, and the more you will fear what is out there, and the smaller your world becomes, and the more there will be fears. So by protecting yourself too much, you create bigger fears for yourself. And by going towards some of the difficulties in your life, and practicing working wisdom, and stopping being just afraid of them, and avoiding them, by practicing that, you're practicing your strength. You're practicing what I would call your existential courage. Now, you don't have to overdo it. You don't have to go find danger and, you know, become counterphobic about it. But it is important to stay flexible, and to push yourself, as they like to say, out of your comfort zone every day, a little bit. Because that keeps you flexible, it keeps you on your toes, and it keeps you existentially alert. And that gives you confidence. That will make you feel that life is more of a game, and less of a challenge. And that there is a lot of joy to be had in life. And that there is a lot of strength growing in you all the time. And that you can kind of trust life, and you can trust yourself to deal with all the difficulties, and not to get put down by it, not to get tripped up by it too much. And that if you do get tripped up, you have the safety in yourself to get back up on your feet, and have another go. So that is the attitude to cultivate. A kind of positive openness to what is possible, and stopping, avoiding life itself. The more you live life, the better it will get, the easier it will become, and the stronger you will feel. So it's simple. The paradox is, face life, face the challenges, get good at dealing with it all, be flexible, be easy on your feet, don't take it so seriously, and don't let your fears get to you. Don't let your fears dictate your life to you, my friend. Don't live in that restricted way. Open up to your freedom, and enjoy the sense of freedom in life, because that is what makes for a good life, for sure.