I moved from Ottawa to Toronto a few months ago. When I lived in Ottawa I had lots of different dogs. Since I’ve been in Toronto I’ve seen lots of different dogs, and I’ve noticed a distinct difference between the dogs.

Dogs in Toronto are cooler.

There is no crazy or nervous barking, there is no potentially dangerous stand-off between the dogs on a walk. Just a “hey what’s up” kind of move. If there’s a park, the dogs will run around — if not they’ll pass each other normally, without saying a word. Without even so much as a sniff of the butt.

Dogs respond on behalf of their owners and everyone in Ottawa seems to be scared. A leash tightens and the dogs respond. But why does the leash tighten?

Because the person walking the dog gets nervous.

“Oh, there’s another dog, I don’t know what it could do. I saw on the news once that a Pit Bull is bad, and that one looks like an evil dog, and my precious little Poochie is a nice lil’ puppy-pup and Mums has to protect her pupply-snuggums.”

Gimme a break.

You’ve got to know when to react. You’ve got to decide what makes you scared and what you shouldn’t let scare you. Fear isn’t the worst — there’s something we can learn from fear.

Let fear teach you to be better — let fear make you more kickass.

• Scared to do a presentation?
  Stay up later making sure you won’t screw it up.
• Scared about that job interview? Act a little bit more confident than you normally would.
• Moving to a big new city to start working in an environment where things actually happen?

Being afraid makes you sink, but if you kick back you’ll be swimming.

Someone pulls a gun? That’s a genuine moment where you’re allowed to tuck your tail and be a little afraid.

Before I made the move I heard two separate aunts say:

“Why Toronto? It’s such a big scary city.”

I could’ve responded with, “Because Ottawa’s scary-boring” but I decided against it. Don’t let a fear keep you from doing something. Let fear help you discover, let fear help motivate you, help make you better.

If you’re too afraid to do something, someone else will.

Let that motivate you.