Some bet on hope whereas others will remind us that “Hope is not a strategy”.

The most fearless look at this is the invitation to step into the idea of hopelessness. But it’s also the most daunting approach as the desire to have someone who will appreciate us and take care of us is a fundamental human idea. The belief in God wouldn’t exist without it.

And yet something is interesting about this, it’s the complementarity between hope and fear.

Someone who fears crossing the street might not be able to avoid crossing the street. To solve the problem, the person will hope that the cars will avoid her while crossing.

The hope for good weather tomorrow is coupled with the fear that it might be bad weather.

And we can go on inventing those pairs.

Something central to all of them is the desire to make a plan and succeed in achieving it without the need to adapt it. It’s the desire to be safe at all times and free from failures.

It then becomes a reason to avoid appropriate action.

Out of fear to make the wrong choice, it is hope that will replace preparation.

Instead of assessing the situation, and giving oneself the means to do so, the choice of hope is to step into action and make a decision. One may then still see fear in the idea that too much information may destroy the hope that the chosen action will be the right one.

It is a path of choosing the lesser fear and delaying the bigger fear of making the wrong choice to later. But then, it is too late. What’s left is the conclusion that one did make the wrong choice. Fear then doesn’t need to be experienced anymore. It has been replaced by blame.

It’s how self-confidence has been eroded over the years.

And beware, this isn’t a reason to blame hope or fear for it. It’s the way that they are used that leads to failure.