At the start of life, we carry this childish expectation that everything will turn out fine. We don’t even consider that it might go differently.
But eventually it stops working that way. Things change.
Something happens. Something crashes. Something goes sideways. We feel afraid.
I don’t mean fear of a nasty dog, house fire or burglar here. I mean fear of the unknown. Something big, clumsy, incomprehensible. Something black.
Fear has enormous power over us. It has arguments we can barely escape. Fear doesn’t differentiate, it simplifies. You’re just afraid.
But there’s a way through this. We can stand up to fear. And we’re not alone in this fight.
The allies against fear are pleasure, creativity, curiosity and humour. Maybe there are also people who can help you return to that youthful sense of self — perhaps even into a blissful state of self-forgetfulness.
When we stand against fear, we win back our animal calm as the prize. It would look like this: ageing with dignity, without dread, without wants.
Then everything turns out fine after all.
This post first appeared in German on reinergaertner.de, where I’ve been writing since 1997 — back when the internet still had that new-car smell. An AI assistant helped with the translation under my supervision. If something reads a bit odd, blame the Denglish in my head.