Triskaidekaphobia: The Art of Looking Smart

Today, I am embracing the absurd. Stepping outside of my limited vocabulary, I am publishing this post which includes very difficult word that is completely outside my element: Triskaidekaphobia.

One may ask, “why take the chance?”

As someone believes that every day is an opportunity to improve oneself, I view this a legitimate stretch as an attempt to elevate my writing ability.

How Does One Improve Oneself

As part of posting, I constantly consume books on writing. Texts on the craft of writing, grammar and vocabulary are all fair game.

Of all the books, I find that reading others’ exceptional writing is most rewarding. Excellent prose is both inspirational as well as instructional. Grammar books are often uptight and less helpful. Vocabulary books can be like watching paint dry; rarely do they ever yield any benefit.

Earlier this week, however, an obnoxiously comical vocabulary book of supposedly hard and harder words yielded a relevant word. Among both difficult and ridiculous words which no one in the right mind would ever include in an essay, there was one that had a moment of relevance. For this Friday the 13th, triskaidekaphobia was a functional word.

Triskaidekaphobia, according to the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, is the fear of the number 13.

With this in mind, today’s post is about fear. The fear in taking risks.

Risk Taking

Risk-taking is a means of growing. Taking chances allows for one to expand upon their abilities.

Engaging in these moments of uncertainty serves as a valuable pedagogy. There is much to be learned from the experience.

Risk taking’s problem is that it triggers emotions; namely, fear.

Why is there fear with risk-taking? What is there to fear?

An etiology of embarrassment can be fear. People are averse towards feeling awkward or clumsy. This is perhaps explains why children are often amazing dancers. Being either fearless or clueless of fear allows for them to shamelessly have fun.

The reality is that experiencing the uncomfortable can lead to betterment.

Even the embarrassment from risk taking can be rewarding. Personally, it has been a source of comedy gold.

After this post’s first draft, I eagerly wanted to see if my new big word would impress AI in terms of my writing’s reading score. I was informed by my AI assistant that the reading score for the post was at the sixth-grade level. The horror!

My new cool word triskaidekaphobia (which I don’t think I will either be able to spell or pronounce) let me down!

Society needs to appreciate the risk takers. One of the most common risk takers are the people learning a new language. They often take their chances when they go out to speak to strangers in their foreign tongue.

As someone who speaks poorly in two foreign languages, communicating in either can be extremely awkward, embarrassing, taxing and frustrating. Thus, I often go out of my way to compliment these people for making the effort and show appreciation.

The Exception to the Rule?

For writing, however, risk taking requires some sensitivity. Writers who have generated many pieces need to come across to their readers as being organic and authentic. Thus, while trying to up their writing craft, their past writings dictate as to how far the envelope can be pushed.

Stepping out too far in writings can produce a product that desperately looks like someone trying too hard to impress. This is never a good look. Like in the world of dating, desperate rarely ever works.

Thus with the blogging, risk taking, at times, must be measured. The dial must be cautiously turned upward.

Conclusion

Per the wise words of Sensei Mr. Miyagi in the epic picture Karate Kid Part III, “do not give into fear.”

For those suffering from triskaidekaphobia today, I wish you the best. For everyone, I hope that everyone takes the time to confront the fears that hold them back from improving upon themselves. In fact, this post would not have happened absent the serendipitous moment that my continuous improvement plan stumbled upon a rarely relevant word. In the end, it is my fear of difficult words to make this a successful post.

Be well!!

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PS: Despite multiple edits, the reading grade score on this matter only got up 8th grade! Personally, writing improvement will be a forever project.