I was talking to a loved one yesterday about her fears, and several times made the comment, “Everyone has these fears. Everyone.”
And this is true. The fears and problems you have are not unique to you.
We all have them, usually secretly, oftentimes even hidden from ourselves.
We think we’re alone in our fears, but we’re not. We all share them, a common thread that connects us as humans.
We think we’re worse than others in our failures, but we’re not. Everyone has the same failures, everyone is ashamed of them, no one can avoid them. They are a part of who we are as human beings. And not wanting these failures to be a part of us is also human.
Everyone else has the same fears you have: fears of failure, of embarrassment, of uncertainty, of discomfort.
Fear of not being good enough.
Everyone else has the same failures you have: procrastination, selfishness, jealousy, insecurity, not being happy with ourselves, not being disciplined, being afraid and shying away from the difficult and terrifying.
You are not alone.
You are not worse.
You are human. And in your failures and fears and weaknesses, you are connected to me, to everyone else on this planet.
Top image from Imgembed.
This is a cross-post from zenhabits.
Leo Babauta is a simplicity blogger & author. He created Zen Habits, a Top 25 blog (according to TIME magazine) with 200,000 subscribers, mnmlist.com, and the best-selling books focus, The Power of Less, and Zen To Done. Babauta is a former journalist of 18 years, a husband, father of six children, and in 2010 moved from Guam to San Francisco, where he leads a simple life. He started Zen Habits to chronicle and share what he’s learned while changing a number of habits.