“I was a coward. I used to be haunted by the fear of thieves, ghosts and serpents. I did not dare to stir out of doors at night. Darkness was a terror to me. It was almost impossible for me to sleep in the dark, as I would imagine ghosts coming from one direction, thieves from another and serpents from a third. I could not therefore bear to sleep without a light in the room.”
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About this quote
There's real candor in naming your own timidity out loud. Fears of the dark, of thieves, of imagined dangers are admitted plainly rather than buried. Courage isn't something you're simply born with; owning what frightens you is the first step toward outgrowing it.
When to use it
- A new hire admits she's terrified of public speaking and signs up for the workshop precisely to face it.
- A father tells his kids he was scared of the dark too, making it easier for them to talk about their own fears.
- Someone journals about the anxieties that keep him awake at night in order to finally understand them.