There's No Bear

When you embark on something you really want, but haven't yet experienced, you can seize up. Your heart beats faster, you sweat, you want to run. Sometimes you do, and end up posing as a pig farmer or a lanyard expert or a lover of steins, just to avoid what you're really after. Your nervous system interprets going after the real deal as a threat, as serious as life or death. It's like a giant bear is chasing you through the forest. But there's no bear.

How do you mend this gap, and not cave to the phantom danger? You keep moving forward. You keep taking steps towards what you want, all the while reminding yourself this isn't you at the edge of your mortality--just you at the edge of your own happiness. Or even, in the worse-case scenario, the edge of something different than the results you've always gotten. Where's the bear? How close on your tails is the bear? There is no bear.

And if it helps, draw a picture of a very, very small bear to carry in your pants pocket. He's adorable, with trousers and a lisp. He enjoys berries and the aesthetics of wood grain. If and when this bear ever catches up with you, he's got honey.