A friend recently made me aware that a lot of our small and big life decisions are driven by fear and/or greed. Here is my attempt to capture how this plays out in real life, moment by moment. I write this post at 2AM on a terrace as another friend (let’s call him Mr X) sitting next to me watches.
I never write a blog post when someone is watching. Fear.
I don’t plan to sleep on the terrace today, because – Mosquitoes? Rain? Fear.
I want to listen to Mr X telling me about yesterday’s revenues. Greed & Fear.
I want to listen to what my colleagues are talking about near the gate. Because – Fear of missing out.
I don’t want to answer questions from Mr X. Because – Fear. Fear of revealing things before time.
Mr X wants to know if I am “high”. Because – Fear. (Because curiosity too ;))
- PS: He just admitted it
Mr X wants to know if I own this piece of writing. Because? Reminds me if I will fear losing the copyright to it (or It will be revealed to the world before time) if he clicks a photo of it as I am typing this. Fear.
- PS: He did click a photo.
Mr X wants to play a board game at 2AM in the morning and I am not okay for the same on terrace. Because wind. Because fear of losing the cards. Fear.
Now can you separate all these fears into two parts? Authentic and inauthentic? Mosquito may be a real danger or losing cards to the wind. But large part of what we are driven by is inauthentic. Get Present To It. Acknowledge It. And don’t be driven by it.
PS: More on greed some other day.