Let me be honest with you. For the past month, AI has been hitting me differently.
Every week brings a new revelation. The OpenClaw release. Anthropic’s Project Glasswing. If you don’t know what those are, Google them — and brace yourself. Each one has left me a little more unsettled than the last. Progressively worried. And honestly? It’s been keeping me up at night.
Not in an exciting, “I can’t wait to get started” kind of way. In a holy-cow, “this is different — what does this mean for me?” kind of way. I’d hear another headline about AI replacing jobs, transforming industries, disrupting everything — and that familiar anxiety would creep in.
You know the feeling. Maybe you’ve had it too.
Here’s the thing: I’ve been here before.
Years ago, I was lying in a hospital bed after a near-fatal skiing accident, wondering if my life as I knew it was over. The doctors weren’t sure I’d recover. That uncertainty — the fear of being left behind, of losing control, of a future you can’t see clearly — I know that feeling intimately.
And recently, staring at a blank AI screen for the first time, I felt it again.
“It was terrifying. But I realized I had two choices: let the wave overwhelm me, or learn to ride it.”
That’s when my own positivity principles — the ones that helped me survive my accident — kicked in. Specifically, the one I believe most fiercely: focus on what you can control.
What I actually did
I decided to stop reading about AI and start using it. I didn’t know how, so I asked AI how to get started with AI. (Yes, really — and it worked.) I thought of something useful: I could migrate my website and save some money. Within 8 hours, I had done things I never thought I’d do in my lifetime. Things that would have taken weeks — or if I’m honest, probably never would have happened at all.
The relief I felt? Enormous. The anxiety that had been waking me up at 3am didn’t disappear, but it transformed. From dread into something I hadn’t expected: fun. Really! I felt like a teenager with my first video game.
The practical path forward
Here’s what I’d tell anyone feeling the same anxiety I felt — the same anxiety most people I talk to are feeling right now:
1. Name the fear. You’re not worried about “AI.” You’re worried about being left behind. About irrelevance. About losing control of your future. That’s a human fear — and a solvable one.
2. Focus on what you can control. You can’t control how fast AI evolves. You can control whether you start learning today.
3. Take one small step. Not a course. Not a certification. Just open the screen and ask a question. Ask it anything. Ask it how to get started.
4. Use it where you live or work. At home. At your job. On a problem you actually care about. That’s when it gets real — and when the fear starts to fade.
5. Listen and talk to people doing it. Podcasts, YouTube, friends — and especially kids, who are nowhere near as scared as adults. You’ll find you’re not alone, and you’ll learn faster than you think.
The bottom line
AI is a massive, transformational change. I won’t pretend otherwise. But massive change has always required the same thing: a positive mindset, a focus on what you can control, and the courage to take that first step.
“The courage isn’t the absence of fear. The courage is taking that first step anyway.”
I’m still learning. What’s next may still be terrifying. But I’m having fun — and I’m not going to be left behind.
Neither are you, if you start.
So here’s my challenge to you: open the screen. Ask a question. Take control. I think you’ll surprise yourself.
— Steve
