Are you driven by fear? Some would say that more than any other time in human history we are captured in a grip of fear. If you really think about it, we’re scared, worried, and stressed by about everything.
Before you say, “Michael, I’m pretty relaxed about life”, let me lob a few fears at you.
Will I keep my job in these uncertain times? I’m feeling older, will my next medical checkup reveal anything? Do my kids really love me? Why can’t I find the special someone to spend the rest of my life with? Is it safe to travel? Will Google stop paying out on traffic domains? Why haven’t I had a domain sale lately? Will I have enough money for the mortgage this month? The list goes on and on…..and at the heart of it all is fear.
Let me share with you some good news. Compared to any other time in human history we live in the most remarkable. We live longer and have better standards of living. Go back less than 100 years ago and having a toilet inside the house that flushed was a rarity. Many diseases still ravaged the majority of the people on the planet and the wonder drug called penicillin had only just been discovered (by accident).
You can now get to anywhere on the planet within about 24 hours and we send signals to the other side of the world on beams of light. I can pick up a device on my desk, dial some numbers and talk to my son thousands of miles away and my daughters drive all around the country while listening to music rather than the snorting of a horse.
According to Business Insider, you are more likely to die from being eaten by a shark than blown up by a terrorist and an asteroid plunging into the earth is more likely to put you in the grave than an illegal immigrant gunning you down.
So what the heck are we all so fearful of? In the show “House of Cards”, Kevin Spacey’s character turns to his wife and says, “Fear, we can work with fear.” He then goes and uses fear to galvanize his personal political ambitions.
What we need to ask is where do we get all of our fear from? The media certainly serves a decent meal each day of plane crashes, terrorism, wars and political instability being the main diet. But we’ve had mainstream media for years and it didn’t seem to worry us in the past.
How about social media? The fear of not belonging, or worse, ignored is often regarded as the fare being served up by companies like Facebook. You only have to ask yourself, how much do you care about likes to realise how dependent our self-esteem has become on them.
The emotional “like rollercoaster” can create an apprehension that beats anything the mainstream media cares to serve. For example, a recent survey was conducted on young people that found they experienced a deep sense of anxiety if another person held their phone for more than ten seconds. The reason, their sense of connectedness was via social media and their phone.
As many of you know, I’m a science fiction fan and one of my favourite books is Dune, where author, Frank Herbert, wrote:
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
I love this quotation because it reminds me that I should not be bound by fear and that the only way to overcome fear is to face it head on. How do I do this? Very simply. I decide to be thankful for what I have and show appreciation to loved ones.
I’m thankful for my health, for my family, for parents, the country I live in and the incredible domain industry where I work. I’m thankful to the team of people I work with, the wonders of our world and the incredible laws that protect each of us.
This past week I invited readers to answer the short, “2017 Domain Leaders Survey” and I would like to thank all those people that did so. They survey will still be kept open over the next few weeks so express your thankfulness for an industry colleague by nominating them....you may be surprised to learn that others have thought the same way as you.
Have a great weekend.
