The fear of unknown

The other day I was watching the movie Helicopter Ella. The movie triggered a chain of thoughts in my mind, so I'll begin with the incident itself which triggered this thought. The lead in this movie is Kajol who while observing the family tree of her husband accidentally highlights to him, that all the men in his family died in their 40's. The husband couldn't help resist the fact. He was in his late 30's and starts thinking that he has only a few years to live. So he decides to leave his wife and son to live the last few years of his life at his own will. Meanwhile, Kajol becomes an independent single mother whose whole life revolves around the 'son'. One day the son, who feels suffocated with his mom's excessive love and care, decides to confront her. He rushes back home and to his surprise finds his Dad back home after some 16 years. He very bluntly asks his dad to leave as he had learnt to survive without him. The son then consoles his mother stating that he finally understood that his mom was always afraid that he'll also die in his 40's, and admits having the similar fear of unknown. He also states that the best thing about his dad's visit was that he isn't afraid now because his father had crossed the doomed threshold already.

This was a movie and people can easily sideline it giving it a tag of fiction, but honestly speaking, I have lived this fear of unknown. I remember back in school I had this feeling that I was doomed and if I participated in any competition, even the winning team could lose. I considered myself bad luck, and year after year the results made me firmly believe in my perception. I never scored a first prize in my school life. I remember the incident which first sowed the seed of this belief. I had participated in the inter-house elocution for the first time. I gave a miserable performance due to stage fear, because of which my house stood third. The house mistress called me after the competition, she had this huge cane in her hand which scared me to death. She informed me that I was the lowest scorer in the entire competition and even though everyone else in my house performed well, they lost because of me. Though she had not hit me with the cane, her words had hit me hard. I chose never to step on the stage again and the thought that I can make a winning team lose stuck with me for my entire school life.

Now, did I ever step up the stage without any fear? Yes, I did. While I was in college, I was on a different mission altogether. The mission of exploring myself. I was one insane person who was seen auditioning for almost all sort of events during college fests. My agenda was to find out which activities I was good at and what new I can learn. Since my focus had shifted from winning or losing to discovering myself, I had eventually overcome the 'fear of unknown'. I came to be known as multi-talented and when I got my first ever first prize at college, that happiness is still beyond definition.

This was my story, you can share yours about how you overcame your fear of unknown.