Fear of The Unknown

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Back in the middle ages, sailors used dragons to represent unknown regions on a map. Back then it made sense, because all sorts of danger could lurk there. From underwater rocks that could sink a ship without any warning, to strong currents that could carry a ship so far off course that everybody on board would die once the food ran out.

From the dawn of history, unknown used to equal danger. Eating unkown berries or mushrooms could easily kill you by poisoning. Unexplored caves could contain sleeping beasts. Which would kill you if you went there. So sticking to the known and familiar evolved as a survival trait. Those silly people who liked to try new things died before they could pass on their genes.

But today’s world is vastly different. Eating Chinese food once, instead of going to the same old steak house you used to go to for the last 10 years won’t kill you. Trying new hobbies won’t kill you. Meeting new people won’t kill you (unless you go meeting them at night, in dark alleys of poor urban areas). Yet many people still act like the unknown is full of dragons.

Sticking to the familiar feels safe. It’s natural for us humans. But it won’t let you grow anywhere near as much as exploring the unknown. It’s time to stop hiding from the imaginary dragons, and find out what the outside world REALLY looks like!

You can overcome your instincts

Try this experiment. Grab a friend, and wave a hand in front of his face. He’ll blink. Next tell him not to blink, and do it again. He’ll be able to stop himself from blinking. Blinking when something moves close to your face is a natural instinct. And yet you can consciously stop it, if you decide to.

Now the fun thing is, imagine you grabbed another friend, and waved a hand in front of his face. He would blink. Then, without saying anything, you would do it again. He would blink again. You could probably repeat this four or five times until he would go “Hey, stop!”, stop himself from blinking and push you away. He would first need to become consciously aware of what’s going on, and then consciously decide to stop it.

Fear of the unknown works the same way. Your natural reaction is to fear the unknown and stick to the familiar. And if you’re not consciously aware that you’re doing it, you’ll keep on being run by your instincts. But once you become consciously aware of your instincts, you can override them. You can then go out and seek new experiences, because you realize there’s no REAL danger out there. It’s all imaginary dragons on your map of the world.

The Three Kinds of People

Wayne Dyer, an enormously successful self-help author, talks about three kinds of people. Neurotic people, normal people, and what he calls No-Limit people. You can think of these on a spectrum, with neurotics being at one end, normal people around the middle, and No-Limit people all the way at the other end. The point of personal growth is to keep growing towards the ideal of being a No-Limit person.

When faced with the unkown, the neurotic immediately becomes defensive. He feels threatened by it. A normal person is ok with the unknown. If it comes, he will deal with it. But a No-Limit person… a No-Limit person actively seeks the unknown!

So imagine there’s a new gay club, with transvestites in it, in the neigborhood. The neurotic will immediately go “What! Transvestites in my neighborhood! Never! I will never accept such freaks!” and form a petition to get them out. A normal person would be “Ok, cool.” and do nothing. Whereas the No-Limit person would go “Hmm, gay club, that sounds interesting. And transvestites. I wonder what that’s like.” So instead of being offended, a No-Limit man would put on a bra and go check it out. Just for the fun of it.

(Now that I think of it, I’ve never been in a gay club myself. Awesome! Another piece of personal growth I can do soon )

Not too surprisingly, the closer you get to the No-Limit end of the spectrum, the more happiness, success, and FUN you have in your life! So go seek out some new experiences right now

Start conquering the dragons TODAY!

If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will keep getting more of what you’ve already got.

Here are some specific to-do steps that you can do TODAY to expand your horizons. Of course, feel free to invent your own ways to kill dragons on your world map. This is just to get you started.

1. Try out some new hobbies

There’s probably a dozen totally awesome hobbies out there that you love. You just don’t know about it yet. And you’ll have a hard time finding out if you never try them!

With all this talk about trying new and unknown things, you might think I always keep searching for new experiences, never find peace in what I do. I’m not like that. I keep trying new things, but every now and then something grabs me so strong it nearly pulls me off my feet. Some hobbies I absolutely fell in love with are parkour, rock-climbing and Jiu Jitsu. I went through at least a dozen sports that were like “Meh. Ok, but not great.” until I found the ones I love.

So don’t be afraid to try new things. Even the stuff you don’t fall in love with will be a fun experience.

2. Break your daily routine

This was in fact one of the first things I wrote about on my blog. Check out the original article. The fact is, routine literally KILLS your brain. It reduces brain activity, like what we call “just switching off”. Breaking your routine, on the other hand, excites your brain cells and creates new connections. In other words, it’s fun and it makes you smarter!

Here are a few quick routine-breaking tips:

• take a new route to work/school
• swap around the order of your morning tasks. Maybe shower after breakfast.
• do your whole showering-and-getting-dressed morning routine with your eyes closed (careful in the shower). This will literally light up whole new regions in your brain you haven’t used for ages. Amazing fun. And amazing results.

Slay the dragons! Yaaaaay!

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