#UsBlogs asked me to feel out the topic: What Scares You
And to be honest, I can rattle off a list of my fears (both current and long-standing) like a third grade teacher doing roll call. I can tell you my biggest fear, and I can tell you a fear that would make you laugh.
You know about my aversion to elevators. And you know about my slight paranoia when it comes to people being in my personal space. You also know that *most* of my fears center around personal safety.
But what about my fears is compelling? Raw? New?
I often do this. When someone says, “do what you will,” I treat a concept (or topic) like an unknown object. I pick it up; shake it gently; tap the sides; feel the edges; peer at its underside; flip it over; try to bend it and roll it; try to look inside it – in short I really examine an object until I can comfortably say, “yep – this here is a wrench. Now what you got to do with this here wrench….fer as I can tell, is take and catch a bolt with it and twist that thang off using your body weight.” And now I have my wrench: the kernel of our fears these last couple of weeks.
What if we stop winning with our tiger blood?
You know why Charlie Sheen finally told us his whole cooking process including his secret sauce? It’s because he had a dispute with his distributors. See, his secret sauce was fooling no one before, and is no longer even effective with the few people who benefit from its appeal: his employers.
When Charlie Sheen’s tiger blood was no longer making him a winner in private, he had to mass-market his stash to make it desirable to his customer base so they’d buy it directly from him. People do funny things when you start messing with their cheddar. Now what happens when we stop buying his tiger blood completely? Well that prospect would unravel my sanity, too.
What if no one – no one – had any use for me? What if I was no longer winning OR fully stocked with tiger blood? What if…<gulp> I lose?
Now this is just the word of One Jillian. What say you? Are you sure you’ll stay a winner forever? Am I wrong about Charlie Sheen’s wipeout?
Fun piece, great writing Jillian. I love the way you describe playing around with the topic at hand, very visceral. No need to fear the lack of use, I feel!
I’m doing my best to ignore the gent at the end of the piece for just the reasons you laid out, so radio silence on that one. Cheers!