Yesterday I went to a Pilates class hosted by an instructor I had not met before. I enjoyed the class; it was well paced and easy to follow along. After the class we lingered and chatted for a bit. The instructor shared that she recently started teaching and that every time she is in front of a class she is afraid she is doing a bad job. She is concerned that they may hate the class, that they think she is a bad instructor. “I am always met by this wall of blank or puzzled fa

I have now asked 1,000 people across the world what their biggest fear is. When I set out on this journey in the spring of 2022, I suspected that death would be high on the list. But I also thought that war, climate crisis and the rise of totalitarianism would be top contenders. I was wrong about the latter. Only about 4.5% of respondents mentioned bigger global themes. Death, in some shape or form, was indeed top of the list; about 20% said that what they feared most was los

One week before I put on the show “ Let’s Talk About Fear ” at the Comedy Studio in Cambridge I was nervous. Well, let’s skip the euphemism: I was having a minor meltdown. There are so many things that can go wrong with a production. I feared that not enough people would come. I feared that too many people would come and not like the show. I feared people would be offended and judge me. With any type of art, it is impossible to predict how it will be received. It is equally i