What Are You Really Afraid Of?

The fear of the unknown. On the surface, it is straightforward: you're scared because you don't know what's coming. But dig deeper and find something surprising: you aren't afraid of the unknown. You are fearful of what you think it contains. It's like staring into a dark room – the fear isn't of the darkness but of the shadows you imagine.

It is nothing

The unknown is, by definition, empty. It holds nothing we can recognize, nothing concrete to grasp. So, instead of leaving it empty, we fill it up. You populate it with your worst experiences, monsters, and regrets or failures in your mind. This is why, so often, when facing uncertainty, people start anticipating the worst. They use pieces of what they know – usually the things they most fear – to create a story about what could be coming. And that story feels natural because it's made of real fears.

It is a blank slate

But what if you allowed the unknown to remain unknown? What if, instead of projecting your past anxieties and fears onto it, you saw it as pure potential, a blank slate with no baggage? Doing so frees you from the grip of those familiar fears. It doesn't mean you will suddenly stop feeling anxious about what's next. It just means you're not bringing your past baggage into it.

This change in thinking isn't about being recklessly optimistic or ignoring real risks. It's about being aware when filling the unknown with ghosts of your past and allowing that unknown to exist without projection.

The unknown can remain unknown, and that's okay. That's where new beginnings lie.