Photo: By Keyur Nandaniya on Unsplash.
Hold the lion: Kit Pearce says facing our fears need not be as scary as it sounds
‘There is another (riskier) way to respond to fear.’
An Estonian town is locked down. Police cars broadcast an announcement: ‘A dangerous lion is on the loose! Stay at home!’ The local chief constable deals with the unprecedented emergency, but it is made worse by loud and lairy lion-deniers. Meanwhile, a timid council employee is scared witless, even though he’s already home. But (wouldn’t you know it?), a door is open in his house. The lion enters. Just as the man is about to escape, it blocks his only exit: he’s stuck – can’t go forwards, can’t go back. He must confront his paralysing fears. He inches past the old moth-eaten lion. It’s so close he feels its breath on his skin, smells its fetid musk. He escapes unscathed and is transformed, determined to live more boldly in future.
