Defending My Life – The Ninth (but not last) Day of Facing My Fears

If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be too cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. – Annie Dillard Day Nine: Practicing what I …

Defending My Life – Day Eight of Facing My Fears

A thousand fearful images and dire suggestions glance along the mind when it is moody and discontented with itself. Command them to stand and show themselves, and you presently assert the power of reason over imagination. -Sir Walter Scott Day Eight: Putting skin in the game Teetering on the edge of finishing this little project.  …

Defending My Life – Day Seven of Facing My Fears

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself. – Soren Kierkegaard Day Seven – Music and Mayhem As I relate these tales, I feel foolish.  I feel foolish becoming excited over the smallest things.  I feel foolish looking at the rewards I gained for the risks I’ve taken …

Defending My Life – Day Six of Facing My Fears

Wait, what happened to Friday?  Did I totally wimp out and give up on this thing?  Let’s be realistic, it wouldn’t be the first time I stopped something midway because I found something else that interested me before.   Ohhh shiny! No, no… let me break this down a bit.  Friday Chicago suffered crazy rainstorms and …

The Art of Worldly Wisdom: 9

Is it possible to love a maxim?  It is quite possibly  a silly thing, but I do really like this maxim.  I am a patriot.  I am an American in the truest sense of the word since I worship at the Temple of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, …

Defending My Life – Day Five of Facing My Fears

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” – Sven Goran Eriksson Here I am, just beyond the midpoint of my personal social experiment, and I’ve hit my first real obstacle. The nothingness. Not the nothingness that comes with nihilism but the nothingness that comes with literally no fear based obstacles in my …