'Fraid Not

Fear Of Success

When life hands us lemonade, we sometimes worry that it's going to turn back into lemons—as if there's such a thing as being too happy, too accomplished, or even too in love—and that something is bound to go wrong. "The fear of success is a misnomer," says Rutledge. "It's really our fear of having something and then losing it."

Yet, as counterproductive as fearing your own fortune might seem, Rutledge maintains that a life without fear is simply not human. When we start to feel worried that everything going well in our lives will crumble, it's important to "move toward what scares us, not for its own sake, but for the sake of learning what we can from our fear," he says. "Always move toward your demons—they take their power from your retreat. The faster you run away, the more power fear will have over you."