Scared. Afraid. In the dark woods, when fear grips us, we turn back. Or worse—we walk backward, as if the unknown darkness holds a beast that only appears when we look away.

Fear sharpens our senses. Hearing becomes razor-sharp. Words become short. Our voice either rises to scare away the unseen or lowers to a whisper, hoping to stay hidden. Yet, how often does fear truly serve us? How often are we actually in a dark wood with real danger lurking? A handful of times in life, if ever. And in those rare moments, when the threat is real, survival takes over.

But as creatives, we know this kind of fear doesn’t help us. It doesn’t push us forward—it stops us cold. It whispers that our work isn’t good enough. That we’ll be judged. That putting something into the world might lead to a kind of social death.

Boldness in design, in creativity, is the opposite of fear. It’s not just courage—it’s contempt for danger. A rejection of the illusion fear presents. A refusal to see the risks it warns us about as worthy of attention. Boldness isn’t just bravery. It’s an aversion to fear itself—acknowledging it, shrugging, and walking past it.

The truth is, the dark woods of creative fear are made dark by our fear. We bring the light with boldness—not by shrinking from our ideas, but by embracing them, making them bigger, and leaning into them.

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