Are you afraid?

What are we really afraid of, I wonder... Facing life? Death? The great unknown? Us? The others?

I guess most of us are primarily afraid of failure, of being unable to cope with life and society as they are today. And we must admit that in the 21st century failure or rather fear of failure is becoming a permanent fixture. We all dream of having a big house, lots of money, a powerful car and....opportunities that come with all this.

However, while trying to keep up with the Joneses most of us are plagued by the feeling of impending failure. What if we don't get that big house, marry the prom queen, make big bucks and drive the fastest cars? Does that make us losers?

What if actually mere survival in this pretty fucked-up world is a success? What if all this bull shit we are chasing our whole life is not actually it?

I've recently read an article in Reader's Digest about a guy who chose to walk away from all this. Somehow, I think he's one of the few who got rid of that fear and I admire him for that. Having the life society pegs as "successful" is not necessarily a true success. I wonder how many of the yuppies out there on Wall Street can't sleep at night out of...fear of failure? And fear of many other things. I know one thing: the wealthier you get, the more afraid you are. Sure, many won't even admit it to themselves. But they are afraid!

What are you afraid of?