Discovering Paul Nicklen's ‘Born to Ice’.

In the final days of Dec 2020, I bought myself a 5-kilo gift and it wasn’t a kettle bell. It arrived by special courier, heavy with paper and promise. Paul Nicklen's ‘Born to Ice’, a magnificent book in every way. With stunning frames of his intimate relationship with the landscape and animals he shares life with. It was magical!

In Nicklen's introduction, on why he chose the path he did, he says "Fear and fascination are often two sides of the same mind. In any internal standoff one will ultimately prevail. Even as fear fights a robust battle within me, fascination almost always tends to win." At 26 years, Nicklen was like us - nervous, conflicted, battling 'common sense'. The difference: he chose fascination over fear.

If we too did more of that, most likely we'd blaze new trails of curiosity and unique experiences. We might disappoint external metrics of success, but not ourselves. After all real success is in how we spend our limited time on this planet. How we live every day, and what we create. We may not all be genius like Nicklen, but we are bound to find our own magic doing what we are most curious about.

How can we make sure that fascination prevails over fear in the internal standoff in our minds?