bhaskar saikia

There are roads we take because they are familiar, predictable, and safe. And then there are roads—silent, winding, disappearing gently behind a bend—inviting us into the unknown. They ask nothing of us except courage. They promise nothing except possibility.

However, beyond such curve also exists out fears.

Fear often dictates the course of our lives more than we realize. It is not the absence of dreams that limits us, but the overwhelming desire to avoid suffering. We fear the pain of failure, rejection, loss, humiliation, and uncertainty far more than we desire the fulfilment waiting on the other side of courage.

Most of us do not live small lives because we lack dreams. We live small because we are afraid of the potential wounds that accompany those dreams. The world teaches us early that safety is synonymous with happiness, that minimising risk is the most rational way to live.

But fear—subtle, persistent, and persuasive—becomes the silent architect of our choices.
We settle.
We stay.
We shrink ourselves into versions that fit comfortably inside the expectations of others and the limitations we impose on ourselves.

Safety becomes a cocoon, but also a cage.

Fear is predominant in our life because no one wants to suffer. It is more about suffering than the fulfillment of dreams that compel us to live an average life; you cannot hurt yourself if you live an average and safe life.

How true this still feels.

The Hidden Cost of Playing Small

Living an “average and safe life” might protect us from failure, embarrassment, or heartbreak—but it also protects us from expansion. From growth. From becoming the person we secretly know we are capable of becoming.

Every time we choose the familiar over the uncertain, a part of our potential quietly folds itself away.

We trade the possibility of greatness for the guarantee of comfort.

What Lies Beyond Fear

The curved roads —quiet, mist-lined, curving into nothingness—mirror the inner landscape of every meaningful journey. You cannot see what’s ahead, but you must move anyway. And in that movement, something shifts:

• Fear loosens its grip.
• The heart discovers its own resilience.
• Life slowly begins to expand beyond the borders of the expected.

Dreams do not require perfection; they require willingness. A single step toward the unknown is often enough to break the spell of fear that has kept us dormant for years.

Yes, dreams come with suffering. There are disappointments, missteps, moments when everything feels uncertain. But this suffering has a purpose—it chisels us, deepens us, prepares us. It transforms us into someone capable of holding the weight of the life we desire.

The suffering we avoid is merely the suffering of growth. The suffering we accept becomes the doorway to meaning.

Suffer Beautifully

The road ahead may be unclear. But that is what makes it beautiful. The most extraordinary chapters of our lives begin exactly where clarity ends.

Fear will always whisper reasons to stay behind. But dreams will whisper reasons to begin.

And somewhere between those two whispers lies the life we truly want to live.