You never know what you can do until you do it
You have heard all the cliches: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, feel the fear and do it anyway. I have been musing about difficult things and I find that one of the great things about getting older is that you know that you have dealt with difficult things in the past and survived. Years ago I was a trainee tax inspector. The first time I investigated someone for not paying enough tax I couldn't sleep. The night before my first interview I woke every hour, my stomach churning. That morning I couldn't eat my breakfast and when I got to the office I spent the first half hour in the ladies'. I had written an interview brief so detailed it could have been a script for a play. A more experienced inspector was sitting in with me. "You ok? Ready for this?" he said. "Yes, I'm ready." "Don't forget. It's much worse for him that it is for you." And off we went. And it was fine. I asked the right questions. The...