<p>I wrote my essay about overcoming my fear of failure. I wrote about how I passed up opportunities b/c of it, but now I’m braver and trying all sorts of new things. I’m concerned that my essay may be risky because my fear of failure was beyond normalcy, it was intensified by my very low-self esteem and social anxiety. Last year, I pretty much shutdown and didn’t want to do anything.</p>
<p>Hmm. It’s risky, but risky can be good. You need to do it without sounding whiny. There is a great thread here somewhere about that. I’ll see if I can find it.</p>
<p>What is your opening sentence? The “personality” of the essay is important.</p>