If you guys have been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of:
1. Anything well-written (duh, I’m a writer and former English teacher)
And…
2. The subject of fear and courage and how it effects us (Don’t believe me? Read this. Or this.)
So naturally, this well-written Ted talk on how fear can have a positive impact on our lives was right up my alley. It also has something that I think can apply to travelers (bonus points!)
Towards the middle of the talk, the speaker, author Karen Thompson Walker, said this:
I read about a study recently of successful entrepreneurs,and the author found that these people shared a habit that he called “productive paranoia,” which meant that these people, instead of dismissing their fears, these people read them closely, they studied them, and then they translated that fear into preparation and action. So that way, if their worst fears came true,their businesses were ready.
That got me thinking about the common “You’re so brave!” refrain travelers frequently get from non-travelers. Perhaps it isn’t that we’re braver than those who claim they’re too afraid to travel, we’ve just taken a closer look at our fears. We’ve thoroughly analyzed them. And then we’ve selected which fears to listen to and which to ignore and prepared ourselves accordingly.
What do you think? Are travelers just better at rationally examining their fears? Or is it something else?
