Quicksand - Guest Writer

Today we have a guest writer, Oliver Gillcrest! Enjoy his work below:

Quicksand - I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my fears, and how much influence they have over me. It reminded me of a speech from a movie I recently watched titled “the replacements,” in which the main character spoke of being afraid of quicksand. When asked about the element he never spoke of it in the traditional sense, but instead he said “It’s when you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move, you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand.” Granted he was talking about football, but it made me think; aren’t we all afraid of quicksand, and if we aren’t, shouldn’t we be? What makes fear unique to each individual, yet at the same time universal in that it affects all of us? I know we’re not all afraid of spiders, snakes, or heights. But we all experience fear and it can cripple us, yet at the same time it is necessary for our survival. I always thought of how great it would be to be fearless, but is that really wise? Does fearlessness really make me more capable or more unaware? Is caution the way to go? In some situations fearlessness can be beneficial, for example not being afraid to tell someone you love them, right? Or does that fear make you less likely to be hurt in case they don’t feel the same way? Or to be more wary of who you say it to? It’s always impossible to tell, but are my fears there to help protect myself or to limit my potential?