If You’re Going To Do Great Things, You Need Fear and Hope
The balance between the two is the key
To the deep thinkers,
Welcome to the Deep Thinkers Newsletter: A collection of essays dedicated to going beyond the surface.
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A few years ago, I was stuck—living aimlessly with no direction or clarity. I was meeting external milestones but kept feeling more and more out of sync with myself. I was depressed, anxious, and neurotic. I’d wake up every day in a panic with what felt like a spectral weight on my chest. I knew something was wrong but couldn’t figure out what it was.
Through some deliberate reflection, I identified the problem.
I’d become so focused on finding contentment by walking the typical path to success (college degree then a corporate job) that I’d ignored my dreams. I’d never stopped and asked myself if this was the life I wanted. I’d simply done the “normal” thing.
In a way, it felt like a badge of honor because it took me a long time to get my college degree. Still, it felt like my life had plateaued in my late twenties and that realization was driving me crazy. My subconscious wouldn’t leave me alone. It was clawing at me, screaming at me to pay attention. I’d played it safe, ignoring my heart and following a conventional path instead. And now, the realization that I’d been too scared to bet on myself was eating me alive from the inside.
I’d been too scared to forge my own path, convincing myself that if I played it safe, I could still be content with the life I would create.
I was wrong.
Fear and hope
To be successful you need a healthy dose of fear and hope—that is, there is a synchronicity to both feelings. They do an interesting dance together, a dance that when channeled correctly can guide you through uncertainty and doubt.
Synchronicity is a concept that was first introduced by psychiatrist Carl Jung, which refers to events that appear significantly related but seem to have no causal connection—or as Jung defined it, an “acausal connecting principle.”
The conventional thought is that we need more hope and less fear. We are usually taught that fear will keep us stuck, which can be the case if you give your fear all of your attention. But fear and hope must move in tandem when we want to accomplish great things—difficult things.
Fear keeps pace with hope. Nor does their so moving together surprise me; both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present. — Seneca
Belief in yourself and your purpose lies between fear and hope. The dance between the two is how you stay alert and alive. It's how you fight off despair, moving through setbacks, trauma, disappointment, and your own shortcomings and weaknesses.
When you lean too far in either direction, you stop growing. You either hand the reigns of your life over to hope, failing to see what you need to do to change your life, or you cower under your fears, too afraid and paralyzed to get up and do something about your situation.
So, it is the hope for something better mixed with the fear of the unknown that keeps us in motion. It may not be the optimal way to live every single day of your life, but it’s the formula we all need when we set off to accomplish the things that will test our spirit. You know, those goals that make you both smile and weep? It is fear and hope that get you to the finish line. It is fear and hope that keep you in motion when entropy tries to destroy everything you’ve worked for.
The sweet spot
Sitting and daydreaming about what you want doesn’t take much effort. The hard part comes when you are doing the actual work—when you’re building a life that aligns with those dreams (a concept I wrote about in more detail here).
The work is what scares most people into a state of paralysis. It takes an iron will to feel those fears, acknowledge them, and then commit to the work anyway.
Fear and hope are both indicators.
We are often afraid of things that require our attention. Meanwhile, hope nudges us forward—providing the necessary strength to navigate obstacles. Figure out what the work looks like and get your hands dirty. You can’t fix your life by living in your head.
After my existential crisis, I came to understand that I’d fallen too far into the fear zone. The fear I felt for writing and sharing my work was an indicator of what I should be doing with my life. Now, I feel the fear, yet I write and I share—using hope to keep me in motion. The hope of realizing my dreams. The hope of creating a life I can be proud of.
I’m learning through trial and error. I’m doing the work and learning more about myself along the way. I don’t feel as anxious or neurotic anymore. Instead, there is a sense of balance in the way I’ve pursued my dreams lately.
I may slip sometimes. That’s normal. But I’ve found the sweet spot, that state of being where I understand the synchronicity between fear and hope.
In this state, I can accomplish great things. And so can you.
What stood out to me this week:
On those who hurt us:
When others hurt you, they leave you with a disease whose cure is hard to find. They leave, gifting you with the insomnia of trying to figure out why it happened and why you deserved it.
- VIAM, When You Can’t Forgive (Substack)
On expression as a cure for depression:
It still isn’t easy for me to talk about the past. It is deeply painful to confront the fear and the loss all over again each time I remember or recount it. But from this moment on, I understood that feelings, no matter how powerful, aren’t fatal. And they are temporary. Suppressing the feelings only makes it harder to let them go. Expression is the opposite of depression.
- Edith Edgar, The Choice: Embrace the Possible
🎵Song of the week:
Thank you for your time. Let me know how this post resonated with you or share it with a friend.
"So, it is the hope for something better mixed with the fear of the unknown that keeps us in motion."
this is my experience as well. mostly the fear of failure but the hope it will work
What an interesting concept! I love that - if you lean too far into hope, you don’t take action, but if you lean too far into fear, you become paralyzed. The Seneca quote was interesting. I almost took it as hope creates an anxiety because it makes you live in the future. Curious to hear your thoughts on that. That’s actually also a fascinating concept. I need to read more Stoicism.