The Price of Never Knowing

I do not believe every fear should be challenged. Some fear protects us, and some situations deserve caution.

But many of the moments we avoid are not dangerous. They are simply uncertain. We might be rejected, misunderstood, look foolish for a few seconds, or hear an answer we hoped would be different.

I have learned that these moments are usually much smaller once I enter them. Someone says yes. Someone says no. A conversation becomes awkward and then life continues.

What can remain much longer is the question created by never trying.

Courage, for me, is not believing that everything will work out. It is accepting that reality has the right to give me an answer I do not control—and deciding that sometimes knowing is worth the temporary discomfort of finding out.