Friday, February 02, 2007

mistakes


Above is today's cartoon on my Far Side Off-the-wall calendar. Besides being a great cartoon, it made me think: who else has a consuming fear of screwing up?
I just can't handle the thought of doing something terribly wrong at work that everyone was counting on me to do correctly. It's the sort of thing I have nightmares about. I hate being told off when I can't actually whine that it wasn't my fault because it actually was. This fear of screwing up in some big way means that I will probably never leave university, and instead collect PhD after PhD simply because I am too scared to go into the workforce. I will accumulate a gigantic student loan and end a shriveled old maid sitting in my office with the curtains drawn. Sounds quite tempting, actually.
Ugly Betty has just come out in New Zealand, and I could hardly sit through one of the episodes because it made me feel so uncomfortable, when she loses The Book that is crucial to the magazine or whatever it was. That is my nightmare scenario. Is it just me?

No comments: