Seneca noticed we suffer more in imagination than in reality, that fear paints things larger and darker than they turn out to be. The dread of a thing is often worse than the thing itself. He advised facing the fear directly, asking plainly: what exactly am I afraid of, and what would I actually do if it happened? Dragged into the light, most fears shrink. You usually find you'd cope, that you've coped before, that the worst case is rarely as final as it felt in the dark. This isn't fearlessness, that's not real. It's refusing to let a shadow run your life. Looking at the fear takes courage, but it almost always turns out to be smaller up close.

Inspired by the old idea of we suffer more in imagination. Written by Ugo Charles.