Franklin D. Roosevelt famously declared in 1933 that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." He identified the problem, but nearly a century later, we still have not properly understood its mechanism. In today's volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, that failure is becoming increasingly dangerous.
We have become fluent in naming modern anxieties. FOMO explained the fear of missing out. FOBO captured the paralysis of endless choice. FOFO described the fear of finding out bad news. Each acronym helped define a specific outward-facing anxiety tied to decisions, opportunities, or social comparison.
