One of my greatest fears used to be the fear of uncertainty.
I started my career in the semiconductor industry which was very cyclical. Then consulting where there was heavy pressure on being a billed resource every day of the year. Then senior management positions with uncertainty of so many things including meeting targets. All this along with a parallel career in classical music where opportunities can be as uncertain as it gets. And now being on my own!
One of the things that helped me conquer my fear is this poem by Kahlil Gibran.
“It is said that before entering the sea, a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river cannot go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean,
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.”
Ramkumar R 