Fear. I hear fear crackling the voices of so many people I meet. Fear that makes them rigid and cold and sometimes even cruel. What they are afraid of, I couldn’t really tell you – too little money, illness, risk, change, too much money – the list is endless because it’s not really what matters but the how . . . the fear, the locking up to protect ourselves.
But then I see people like my friend Carson who isn’t one of those blithe, overly happy people who pretend life doesn’t suck sometimes. Carson is a man who knows life can beat us to a bloody pulp, and yet, he still laughs . . . and he makes me laugh. For that, I am grateful.
Carson has the ability to reframe pain into humor while not ignoring how much it hurts. This is a skill I’d like to hone.
So today, for all you who feel fearful, for all you who know people who are fearful, and for all of you who have learned to frame fear into laughter. . . I give you Rory Sutherland and his smokeless cigarette.
Are you a person who goes rigid with fear, or someone who breaks fear into laughter?