You shouldn't die without having taken risks

What will matter when you die?

Will a past failure matter, even if it was embarrassing?

Will it be better to have taken a risk and having failed, or not having failed but also not tried?

For me, the answer is having failed – but having done something.

But then, why don't I take more risks?

The answer is fear. Fears make taking risks hard and... scary.

But here, too: when you die, will your fears have mattered?

I think the answer here, too, is a no.

The moments you conquered your irrational fears and have grown a little will be the ones you remember. They will become moments you value and moments of happiness. Because you've grown.

Conquering fears is one way of giving meaning to the present and ultimately to the past. If you don't do anything, if you sit around contemplating a better life without stretching yourself, you won't create meaning for yourself.

You are not a stone. You can and you should do something. So if fear is keeping you from taking the risk of action: just do it.