October 23, 2025
Sometimes the Thought of the Day and Question of the Day hit like a double shot of espresso you didn’t know you needed. Today’s combination doesn’t just wake you up, it hunts you down. Flannery O’Connor reminds us that fear, left unchallenged, grows teeth. And the Question of the Day dares us to imagine what that fear might actually taste like if we were forced to swallow it.
So, let’s do what fear doesn’t expect. Let’s look it straight in the eye and chew on it for a while.
Thought of the Day: “If you don’t hunt it down and kill it, it’ll hunt you down and kill you.” — Flannery O’Connor
Flannery O’Connor wasn’t one to sugarcoat life. Her stories were filled with darkness, faith, grotesque beauty, and the kind of human truth you can’t escape. This quote, blunt, brutal, and true, captures what most of us spend our lives trying to avoid: the things we don’t face have a way of finding us anyway.
Fear, procrastination, guilt, regret, they all linger in the shadows like predators waiting for us to let our guard down. The longer we run, the stronger they get. And the thing is, they don’t tire. Fear has a resting heart rate of zero.
It’s easy to rationalize: I’ll deal with it later. Now’s not the time. But fear isn’t patient. It’s patient’s evil twin. It grows while you rest. The only way to stop it is to turn around and face it head-on, hunt it down before it hunts you down.
That doesn’t mean every battle needs to be a war. Sometimes it just means sending the email you’ve been avoiding. Making the call. Saying the thing that’s been choking you. Sometimes the “hunt” looks less like a weapon and more like courage in small doses.
And here’s the strange part: once you confront the thing that terrified you, it usually shrinks. The monster that lived under your bed turns out to be a pile of forgotten laundry.
If you liked this reflection, you might also enjoy “Don’t Give Something to the River That Belongs in the Sea”.
Question of the Day: If fear had a taste, what would it taste like?
This question is deceptively fun, until you realize your answer says something about what fear means to you.
For me, fear tastes metallic. Like pennies in your mouth when you’ve been clenching your jaw too long. Or like that strange bitterness that creeps up when adrenaline hits your tongue. There’s something primal about it, chemical, sharp, alive.
But maybe for you, fear tastes different. Maybe it’s saltwater, from holding back tears or fighting the waves. Maybe it’s smoke, dry, acrid, filling your lungs with memories you can’t exhale. Or maybe it’s sugar: the too-sweet taste of denial that coats everything just enough to keep you numb.
What’s interesting is that fear often disguises itself as something else. It can taste like coffee because you can’t sleep. Or wine because you’d rather not think about it. It can taste like silence because saying it out loud gives it power.
But naming the taste, like naming the fear, takes it out of the dark. You stop letting it hunt you and start studying it instead.
If you’re wondering how to start, try this: next time you feel afraid, don’t run from it. Describe it. Write about it. Give it a flavor, a texture, a sound. Make it real enough to touch, and then remind yourself that you’re the one holding the fork.
For more reflection-worthy prompts, take a look at “What Is the Most Valuable Thing You’ve Learned from Failure?” or “Do You Believe the Number 13 Is Unlucky?”. You might find that fear and superstition often share the same table.
Your Turn
If fear had a taste, what would it taste like to you?
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Every day’s question is a new way to think, laugh, and maybe face a little piece of yourself.
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