I wonder if it might just be not knowing how to start, rather than fear, then. I don't expect I'd be very good at achieving those goals unless I had a specific

I wonder if it might just be not knowing how to start, rather than fear, then. I don't expect I'd be very good at achieving those goals unless I had a specific project in mind that touched on them. Like, I wanted to do kernel development for years and couldn't get into it, and then suddenly I had a job with buggy kernel drivers that needed to be fixed and it was surprisingly easy. Fear wasn't holding me back, but not having identified a realistic small project in the area that I was motivated by was.