Fear of misfortune can be worse than misfortune

In her latest post, Day 30: The Watermaker is Dead. R.I.P., Pacific Ocean rowboat adventurer Roz Savage speaks of her strange sense of relief that her electric watermaker (that has been acting finicky for a week after a dunk underwater) has finally died:

Surprisingly, I am not too despondent now I have got used to the idea. It was becoming very wearing on the nerves, wondering each day if the watermaker was going to work or not. If it is really dead, it is almost a relief to know for sure how things are, rather than living with perpetual hope and frequent disappointment.

While I send my hope and sympathy to Roz, her situation immediately reminded me of one of my favorite passages from the Bushido text Hagakure:

Once a group of ten blind masseuses were traveling together in the mountains, and when they began to pass along the top of a precipice, they all became very cautious, their legs shook, and they were in general struck with terror. Just then the leading man stumbled and fell off the cliff. Those that were left all wailed, “Ahh, ahh! How piteous!”

But the masseuse who had fallen yelled up from below, “Don’t be afraid. Although I fell, it was nothing. I am now rather at ease. Before falling I kept thinking ‘What will I do if I fall?’ and there was no end to my anxiety. But now I’ve settled down. If the rest of you want to be at ease, fall quickly!”

Oftentimes, the fear and anxiety of misfortune can be worse than the misfortune itself.

Links to online transcriptions of the Hagakure can be found at del.icio.us/nilesgibbs/hagakure+text.

If you’re interested in following Roz’s adventure, subscribe to my Unofficial Roz Savage Feed, or check out her official blog: The Voyage: Roz Savage: Rower, Writer, Speaker.