By Aashutosh Katre
Director, Yellow Seed Content Solutions
Renowned American comedian Bill Cosby once said “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”
One would usually associate fear with darkness and loss, dominated by the colour black, whereas we subconsciously conceive desire to be transparent like water — it’ll be what we want it to be. Going by the Id, Ego and Super-Ego concept proposed by psychologist Sigmund Freud, on a broader scale we can definitely presume that fear and desire both are a state of mind. While constantly and silently fighting the battle with our conscience in our head, the two are a part of the tricks that our mind plays on our will to think clearly.
Think about it. If the desire for building a secured future manoeuvres you to work, then the fear of failure will always keep you on your toes until you get there. If the fear of rejection scares you, then the mind will train itself in a way to mechanically aid your desire to be the best. If fear makes you feel secluded and restless, desire makes you spring into action. If the darker side of fear is stress, then the brighter side is the desire to be independent. The two are invariably supplementary to each other in every way.
Let’s consider something as simple purchasing a life insurance policy — the very fact that we weigh all pros and cons of not just what the policy entails, but also how the process maps out. The fundamental reason for joining the club of “What happens to my family when I die?” is the fear of not being present to provide for your loved ones in the future. But the responsibility of being the sole bread owner automatically fuels your will to take good care of your health for your family’s sake. On the other hand, being driven by desire leads you to tactfully conquer your fears.
Take for instance, the marketing strategies that most brands undertake today. They create their advertisements that completely sync with their consumer’s emotional quotients. Be it Hippo coming out with chips that are ‘Baked, not fried’ to satisfy people’s craving for munchies while at the same time pacifying them that it is healthier, or McDonald’s introducing the ‘Masala Grill’ to please the Indian palate while simultaneously keeping up with its foreign status. Be it Hush Puppies’ cost-efficient shoes that beseech a formal persona and can also go well with casuals, or the campaign of buying a second-hand Mercedes — advertising brilliantly explores the possibilities of creating irresistible commercialized campaigns.
We all learn from the mistakes we make in the journey of our lives. Be it something as petty as forgetting to add salt while preparing dal, or something as crucial as choosing a career option to be an engineer while our genuine passion lies in photography. Being fearful is healthy, and it only makes us human. It keeps our ego in check. It makes us cautious and proves to be a form of barricade between our spontaneity and the streak of being impetuous that we all house somewhere deep within ourselves.
Fears and desires definitely go hand in hand because we often confuse our wants with our needs. In spite of all the ambiguity, the thin line that loosely helps differentiate the two is that fear reflects a pessimistic approach while desire enforces optimism. The best part is that both of these prove beneficial when it comes to accomplishing goals, both provide motivation in their own unique ways, both are abstract, both complement each other. Just like the Yin and Yang.
Feedback: aashutosh@itsyellowseed.com
