the intentional formation of beautiful souls
What Will You Do With This?
I tweeted this link yesterday. It’s a post on Blaine Hogan’s blog by Ben Arment. Ben is the founder of the Story Conference that I am attending next week. I am beyond excited about this trip. Beyond. Anyway, this 100 Words feature is brilliant, and Ben’s words hit me right in the gut. Like, I can’t stop thinking about the implications of what he said. Go read it, if you haven’t already. Here are the opening lines:
We are motivated by two conflicting fears in life: the fear of failure and the fear of insignificance. What we endeavor to do is determined by which fear is the strongest.
5 Responses to “What Will You Do With This?”
Leave a Reply
- A blog post on hope, because I need it today: http://www.felicitywhite.com/general/more-on-hope/
So, my worst fear is definitely that of insignificance. I think I’m going to blog about it next week, though, because I’m wondering what exactly I mean by “significant” and if there’s an admirable significance to strive for and a not-so-admirable one (i.e., just wanting money or fame). Of course, like all things, I’m pretty sure they blur together what with us being human and all.
I am so happy for you–that conference sounds incredible. I’ve never heard about it before! Do they do it every year? I must investigate this. It sounds like the exact thing my heart is thirsty for right now.
I hope you’ll blog about it. I noticed they’re going to sell DVDs–I hope I can get my hands on those.
I’ve been thinking about your post about social networking sites and whether they make us shallow or better. I think I’ve decided that they make me better. This will sound bad I’m sure, but lately whenever I log onto facebook I have an urge to whine about things sometimes, to say something overly dramatic–but I don’t, because I don’t want to be known as a whiner–and because I’ve got too much to be thankful for and happy about. I remind myself that, and that is worth something. It’s a good exercise for self control, if nothing else! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I love your posts. I hardly ever comment anywhere anymore–probably because I have to mull things over to get my thoughts together and by then I’m late to the party–but I do enjoy your blog. And your sister’s too.
Have fun at the conference!
Look at you two being all philosophical! I love it!
I’ve been thinking about the significance thing, too. And almost exactly in those terms. The question really is, in whose eyes do I want to be significant and what would qualify?
Becky – I agree on the self-control issue. I think it makes me better, too.
Oh, and there will be blogging! You’ll probably be sick of hearing about it from me! Next year we should meet up at the Story Conference.
I can’t wait to see all the posts from the Story Conference.
And incidentally I’ve ALWAYS been plagued by the fear of insignificance. I’m fairly fearless. But insignificance keeps me up at night…
[...] been thinking about this quote Felicity pointed me to last week: We are motivated by two conflicting fears in life: the fear of failure and [...]