My dear,

We do not fear our failure. We fear our success. We fear that our success will ask of us more success. We fear we cannot endure that much success, that much need for success. We fear we’re not always going to be strong, and so we never begin being. We fear our highs will have lows, and we fear lows so very dearly we dare not grasp the highs they accompany. We fear perfection, for we know we cannot grasp it forevermore.

We fear our highest possibilities. We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments, under conditions of great courage.

We enjoy and even thrill to the godlike possibilities we see in ourselves in such peak moments. And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness, awe, and fear before these very same possibilities.

The only option we have is to be courageous. To not avoid fear, but instead to keep going even through it.

Falsely yours,
Abraham Harold Maslow