Everyday Canvas

The Most Valuable

It's been said," the reason we hold on to something so tight is because we fear something great can't happen twice."
Do you agree or disagree? Share with us about a time you held on tight, was it the right thing to do or not, or was it simply fear that paralyzed you.

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Since we are human and we don’t have outer coverings like cockroaches do, fear is built into our nature; however, who says something great can’t happen to the same person hundred times over? For people to think that a good thing couldn’t happen twice would be like believing they are able to predict the future with 100% accuracy. Looking at this from another point of view, I think this feeling has its origin in the fear of failure.

There are two basic motivating sources for human behavior: fear and love. When people are afraid of failure, they pull back from life and they reject hope. Love always keeps the hope within it. And once I learned to think for myself, I chose love.

For that reason, it is difficult for me to recall anything that I held on tightly for fear of its loss; the only thing I can easily say was my mother’s words and her ways when I was very little. I then believed that she couldn’t ever be wrong about anything. Once my mind started processing the mistakes she made, and they were quite a few, I was shocked and fearful at first, but then, I grew into my own way of thinking. This is not saying that she was a good or bad mother, but she was a human being like any other and she had good and not-so-desirable sides. It took me a while to see that.

Still, there are a few things I hold on tightly such as my husband, my children, my extended family, and things l like to do, and I don’t want to change those. I guess if I had another husband, other children, and other things I like to do, I’d hold on to them just as tightly, but not because I’d fear those things valuable to me couldn’t happen twice or many other times. It is just that there is no reason to change anything valuable enough when I have them. Maybe other great things can happen or maybe they can’t; the idea of which doesn’t matter. After all, I am the one responsible for me, and the most important things to me are who I am, what I do, and how I value who and what I have.