Be fearless (en)

Be Fearless was originally published on my own blog before being published on Medium. Feel free to follow me here or on Fllio, the creative network.

In an interview with TechMeUp, I was asked to give advice to the new generation. My answer was short and simple: “be fearless.”

From birth, we experience daily challenges — some more difficult than others. They appear in different forms and shape our personality, and change our perception of the world that surrounds us.

The first thing we learn: life is short…. incredibly short. Our time is finite, and we need to make the most out of it. This basic lesson was learned during my childhood with the death of my great grandmother. She was the one who made me discover French gastronomy, literature, as well as something more unique: trains. Her death created a strong feeling of emptiness and loneliness.

Time goes on. It doesn’t erase difficulties or pains, but it forces us to move forward and quickly grow. As we grow, the culture in which we live in educates us, but it also imposes limits and constraints. Social conventions require us to be conformists. These concepts change over time; they reinvent themselves, but are always present in some form.

I first encountered this challenge while trying to integrate in the classroom environment, where I had difficulties communicating with my classmates. They frequently called me “friendless”, which was not far from the truth. My way of interacting was unconventional, and the same went for how I was thinking. The crux of the challenge was: adapt to fit into the status quo, or find other sources of human interaction.

Children in my situation would usually find a “new world “ into which they could retreat, like a library. But for me, it was in the computer world that I found an opportunity. It was a new space of expression, even though computers in the late 90s still aroused fear and anxiety among French adults — especially around the notion of identity (using our real name, for example). So I quickly put all prejudices against this new medium aside, and, buffered by my ignorance, embarked on this adventure of exploring an unknown world, which much later ended up being my daily job (I work for tech companies).

Challenging what society thinks and requires permits you to judge for yourself. It is not a book or a TV channel that explains everything from A to Z, it is you: you forge your own opinion thanks to your own experiences.

And it was at this moment that I realized that the only limit to discovering new things is fear.

Fear of two main things: your own limits , and of course, the unknown. Growing up, our personal experiences define our comfort zone: an area where challenges are limited and hazards are reduced. We all have this self-defined space.

After spending a little less than two years in Paris, my routine was rooted. Croissants and coffee before going to work, aperitif in the evening. I was unable to foresee myself going or living elsewhere outside of my new realm of comfort.

And yet, in early 2009, I began to explore the idea of ​​leaving. By the end of March, I had an internship in the US secured, a visa, and in early July I was on a plane to Florida. The fear of leaving was obviously present. The United States is far from family, friends, and is culturally distinct as well. I would have to rebuild my life there mostly from scratch. But, it was a choice that I wanted to assume.

Every opportunity presents itself with a lot of difficulties as well as learning opportunities. A period in which to adapt, and make mistakes, until a new zone of comfort is created. And even though going to Florida was ultimately not a good decision, instead of returning to France I continued my journey westward to California. A few weeks later, I had a new visa and a job at Yahoo! in Silicon Valley.

This new opportunity started well. The company put me up for a month in a luxury apartment in the center of San Francisco. But this newfound dream quickly changed when my team got outsourced to India. Like for most French people, the loss of a job seemed at the time to be the end of the world. But the idea of ​​returning to France already terrified me too. I was not ready yet.

In times of difficulty, we must still find the courage to stand up. By persevering, I got a job at Google, where I stayed for 3 years — before deciding to transition to Pinterest where I am now.

My advice to the new generation?

Be fearless.

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