Most people, to one degree or another, are ruled by fear. Most of that fear is fear of nothing-in-particular, just fear. And some of that fear is being afraid of getting hurt, of being laughed at, of looking foolish, of making a mistake, of losing face.
But fear is fear, and on the horizontal plane, for the horizontal self, there is nothing more important than to listen to the fear and avoid doing anything that awakens fear.
Result: your life is stagnant, your self-respect is disappearing, and you shrink, and shrink. It doesn’t feel good.
Fear is getting stronger, and you are getting weaker.