Fear of Success

A writer friend once told me about a "fear of success" dream she'd had: of finding herself perched on a tall free-standing column, with a space no wider than a medium tree stump to stand on, and nothing to hold on to.

As I think back on it, I'm not sure that wasn't my dream. It's so vivid to me. If it wasn't mine, then I do know I reported one much like it in that same conversation.

I haven't had such a dream in a very long time. But almost all of us do wrestle with some sense of the discomfort of feeling exposed.

Here's an image to counter that fear: this serene and well-balanced heron, photographed by Mark LeGwin at Atlantic, NC. The bird is perfectly comfortable and at home on top of the column--and probably has the genial company of other birds on other pilings nearby. If that heron can do it, so can we.