Dr. Seuss for Credit Unions 4: What Was I Scared Of?
by: Bo McDonald, President, Your Marketing Co
A lesser-known work from Dr. Seuss is one of my favorites, What Was I Scared Of? It tells the tale of an unnamed character who repeatedly meets an empty pair of pale-green pants. The character is initially afraid of the pants, which are able to stand on their own despite the lack of a wearer. It’s a rather silly story since pants cannot come to life, but it is a great illustration of how we often let silly fears drive our decisions.
My business mentor recently challenged me for not achieving certain goals. No matter what excuse I used, he brought my answer back to a fear of change. “You avoid the hard decisions because it will bring change, and you have a fear of change” he said.
I am my own worst enemy. I fear those green pants that follow me, no matter how ridiculous that sounds. Professional speaker Deb Sofield calls this “borrowing fear from tomorrow.” We sit very comfortably where we are; until we meet our version of a pair of pale green pants that makes us “lose our grin-itch spinach” just like the character in this Dr. Seuss story. The anxiety sends us to tuck ourselves away in a “brickel bush” hiding from whatever silly fear might have paralyzed us.
So what is the lesson that Dr. Seuss has for us from this story? Get over it. The character in the story encountered those feared green pants again one night while in a dark and gloomy “Snide field.” As he reached in a Snide bush, there it was. “I yelled, I screamed, I shrieked” said the character. He howled, yowled, and cried “Save me from these pale green pants with nobody inside.” But then something strange happened. Those pale green pants began to cry and tremble. The pants were more scared than the character that feared them was!
Stop borrowing fear from tomorrow, and stop running from those pale green pants. Conquer your fear of whatever it is holding you back from reaching your goals and push forward. After all, what is fear? Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real.
