What are you scared of? And what are you going to do about it?

“What scares you most is what you need to do the most.”

“Have you ever heard of Yes Theory?”, the girl sitting across the table at a café in Tbilisi, Georgia, asked me. “You’d love it.”

No, I had not. What the hell is a Yes Theory? Saying Yes to everything?

Well, turns out it’s a YouTube channel, made by a few guys who embrace discomfort and try to get the best out of themselves, everyone around them, and total strangers.

I fucking love these guys. And I just watch their videos. I want to be friends with them, spend time with them, live with them, hell, I might even turn homosexual for them. They’re that awesome.

They bring people together by throwing a party in the most boring town in America, take their Tinder date to Venice (Italy, not LA, you fool), travel to Tuvalu in order to see what the least visited country in the world is like and do plenty more great things. Essentially, they’re creating wonderful experience by believing that people are, at their core, good and trustworthy. And they challenge strangers to do the same.

If you haven’t seen any of their videos, go check them out. It’s heartwarming, and sometimes I do have to suppress a tear of joy at the end.

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

Let’s talk about being scared.

Today, laying in bed hungover, I watched a Yes Theory video about a guy taking over as their CEO for 48 hours:

In order to promote their clothing line “Seek Discomfort” (which I find very cool, because having it printed on your sweater constantly reminds you to get out of your comfort zone), they’re looking for a new Marketing stunt. So they put up street art in the shape of two posters.

The posters are white, and have two prompts written on them.

This is what scares me the most.

This is what I’m going to do about it.

Next thing you know, people gather around the posters and actually write down their fears.

“I’m afraid of the ocean”, one guy says. “It’s so deep, and there’s so many things in there.”

“And what can you do about it?”

“Well, I guess the ocean is around the corner, so I could just jump in.”

Being scared is human. We’re all scared of things, whether it is rational or not: spiders, the future, heights, manual cars, being alone, the list is endless.

But we never talk about it.

Being scared is “weak”. It makes you vulnerable. If other people know your fears, they can play with them.

Or they can help you overcome them.

I am, among many things, afraid as shit of heights. Jumping off a 5 meter board into a swimming pool is one of the most dreadful experiences I could imagine. Gives me shivers even typing it out.

I talked to my friends about it. And, as good friends would do, they got me into the most uncomfortable situation possible — they got me a voucher to go sky diving.

Well, shit. Now I have to, don’t I?

I’m scared as hell. Which shows me that I really need to go sky diving. It will be a freeing and wonderful experience.

“What scares you the most is what you need to do the most.”

(Disclaimer: I haven’t done it yet because I’m full of excuses: I was injured, the weather was bad, the kind of stuff you come up with when you really really really don’t want to do something).

My friends didn’t abuse my fear of heights. Instead, the gave me a tool to overcome my fear.

That’s what happens when you make yourself vulnerable: people will help you become a better version of yourself.

Sharing vulnerability is one of the most beautiful things you can do. In the video, you can see the emotions that come up in all people expressing their fears. Writing them out, talking about them, makes everything so much easier.

I’m afraid of the future. I’m afraid to be alone. I’m afraid of heights.

And here’s what I’m going to do about it:

I will become the best version of myself, according to my main values honesty, integrity and respect. I will surround myself with wonderful people, who want to make the world a better place. And I will redeem that god damn voucher and go sky diving.

Now it’s your turn:

What are you scared of the most?

And what are you going to do about it?

Send me your answers per email to hello at dominiknitsch dot com. I’ll send you a reminder in 6 months and try to keep you accountable.

… and while you’re at it, you can also subscribe to my newsletter. ;)