Why do people do things that they fear? It may be that the fear contains information. Something can be interesting if you get to the other side of that fear.

Ferguson frames fear not only as an obstacle but as a signal: the very presence of fear may indicate that something meaningful—growth, truth, or opportunity—lies nearby. The quote suggests a pragmatic approach to anxiety: rather than treating fear as a stop sign, treat it as data about what matters to you or what you have not yet mastered. “Getting to the other side” implies that the value is often inaccessible without passing through discomfort, and that curiosity can coexist with apprehension. In this reading, courage is less about fearlessness than about using fear as a guide toward experiences that can enlarge one’s life.