Fear of knowing the truth Fear of knowing the truth gets in the way of talking about what's important, from learning what you need to know. It gets in the way of making important decisions. One mechanism for avoiding excessive anxiety is to avoid the truth, which is scary. And it makes sense - if I learn something horrible, it can traumatize the psyche. The paradox of fear perception emerges. As long as the frightening truth remains unknown, it may not yet be true. But if my fear is justified, then it is irrevocably true. The difficulty is the waiting itself provokes anxiety. It's just a way of avoiding more intense experiences, but not a way to get what you want. The question is, does this strategy help you get what you want in a given situation? What is more damaging - avoidance, or realizing that the worst fears have been realized? Fear is necessary for physical survival, sanity, and social standing. The question is - is a particular fear justified in this situation? The idea is not to get rid of fear totally, which is very dangerous. The idea is to distinguish between reasonable fears and unreasonable fears. To understand what I can influence and what I can't, and make the decisions that need to be made. A way to deal with the fear that prevents you from taking action is to write out your worst-case scenarios. Make a list of what's the worst that could happen if I do this or that. When the fear is clear, it's much easier to understand: 1. What can be done that will really reduce the likelihood of such an outcome. 2. What you can do, what you can do if it does happen. 3. What is the cost of inaction, what will happen to me a year from now if I continue to avoid and postpone. Link to Tim Ferris' talk where he talks about how you can identify fear, and figure out how to act: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J6jAC6XxAI link to post: https://ivanbek.com/blog/2023/08/fear-of-knowing-the-truth/