I take back what I said the other day about lack of growth. I am 100x more mellow than I used to be. I didn’t realize it, until I listened to my conversation on the Launch Yourself podcast with host Melissa Anzman about our leap year:

I’m also, apparently, now uninhibited enough to confess some of my darkest fears to strangers listening to a podcast. Click here to listen to the interview.

In fact, fear is an underlying theme that we discuss throughout the show. Fear of change, fear of failure, fear of risk. One of mine is fear of having nothing to sell and no one there to buy, which I thought of when I snapped the photo of the closed-for-the-season craft fair above.

Karen Thompson Walker says that fear and imagination are linked, and that fear manifests itself in different stories we imagine. In those stories, we’re the main character and something terrible is happening to us — if we take the wrong step. And sometimes the scariest story we tell ourselves is the one that is least likely to come true.

A better way to use your imagination is to do an exercise like The Professional Hobo recommends. Take 20 minutes to write down 100 things you want to do, people you want to meet, ideas that interest you. Don’t think, just write what comes to mind. Later on, revisit the list and see what you can actually make happen, one at a time.

If you take away anything from listening to the interview, it’s that I hope you devote more energy to imagining what’s possible rather than imagining what could go wrong.

Big thanks to my new friend Melissa for having me on her podcast and to my friend and former colleague Mac for introducing us! Make sure you subscribe to her podcast. (Chris and I already did, and it’s been a lifesaver on our long bus rides, along with The Moth.)

You Might Also Like

10Dec13 12Mar14 18Feb14