When ordinary fear is enough

version of this essay was published as part of my monthly newsletter several weeks back. Find other archives and join here to get updates like this first.

I used to think all the great kinds of fear were personal ones. Artisanal fear; handcrafted fear; the kind of things that came with a story worth telling. Being lost a bit too long in Japan; crashing an ATV in Qatar; Running with the bulls. Some real life or death adventure, lest I fall victim to ordinary fear.

Back in late March, when it became increasingly clear that it was altogether conceivable that our healthcare system could collapse under the weight of this pandemic, I recognized I was experiencing a kind of universal fear. Certainly not ordinary, exactly, but something so widespread as to begin to feel ordinary. A universal fear that very nearly every person on the planet was experiencing at the same time.

Perhaps there has never been a time when more people in the world were scared of the same thing at the same time.

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I am motivated by fear

A version of this essay was published as part of my twice-monthly newsletter several weeks ago. Find other archives and join here to get updates like this first.

Someone asked me recently what was the biggest motivator for me to start a company, and I told him it was fear.

That’s true, if still somewhat self-deprecating.

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Give a Eulogy

The maternal side of my family, including my grandmother, in the middle, whose house we were emptying in this photograph from summer 2006. My grandmother died last week, and I was privileged, though saddened, to eulogize her at her wake.
The maternal side of my family, including my grandmother, in the middle, whose house we were emptying in this photograph from summer 2006. My grandmother died last week, and I was privileged, though saddened, to eulogize her at her wake.

I don’t think I was ever naive enough to believe all the experiences I wanted to have were pleasant ones.

Today I eulogized my maternal grandmother, who died last Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009 at the young age of 74.

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