If you are afraid of the mosh, I genuinely believe you will struggle to succeed. Now that I have your attention, I cannot be more sincere. Jump in the mosh.
Hobbies surprisingly make up a huge part of who we are. If you have gathered much from my website I often talk about two aspects of life quite often. Work and hobbies. In many ways I feel a bit like a hobby nomad. I venture from hobby to hobby meeting the people who make up these communities but largely I have sat on the sidelines. One community that stuck with me was the metal community. When I used to live in my hometown I had built a group of friends who loved to go to local metal gigs and just thrash. Now that I am in the city I have lost that sense of community.
I was fortunate recently as my friends surprised me with tickets to Baby Metal. I was ecstatic as it had been almost a year since my last gig. For some context Baby Metal is a Japanese metal band who are closer to a J-pop group than a metal band. This contrast makes their music super unique and genuinely really fun to listen to. What Baby Metal has thrived at is bringing people into the metal scene who have never experienced a metal gig before.
Here lies our problem. Myself alongside 20 other metal heads began in ritual, head banging, shoulder bumping and slowly opening up a circle to bump into each other. Much to the horror of those who had never attended such a concert before. At first I felt shame at how we were acting, how we were making these newbies exceptionally uncomfortable. But then I realised. I was just like them. I too was afraid of the mosh at my first gig. Like many rite of passage, this is a memorable moment, but also a moment filled with doubt and fear. Only with guidance or proper preperation can one fully embrace this experience. So like any sage councillor , I did what was necessary. Grabbing newbies by the shoulders and throwing them into the pit.
As the gig continued the mosh grew. The finale was fantastic with almost half the venue bumping in unison. As my mates and I exited the venue I had a group of guys come up to me and thank me for chucking them in the mosh, they had a great time.
I won't go into detail, but honestly the mosh at metal concerts are super safe. People love people and so there is no ill intention. If someone falls, people are quick to create a barrier and pick them up off the floor.
This philosophy also applies to life. Fear is simply not an excuse to try something new, or to take a risk. You will find that you have so much support, and so many opprtunities to stop before things take a turn for the worse. Even if things do turn out poorly, there will be others to pick you up, dust yourself off and have another crack. There are two defining factors to the mosh that I believe apply to real life.
Fear of the Unknown/Lack of Control and Fear of social judgement or failure
Firstly, the Fear of the Unknown, if you have never been in a mosh, you don't know what to expect, it looks rough, turbulent, almost animalistic. Of course the irrational part of your brain tells you, you are going to get hurt. I say Irrational because if people always got hurt in a mosh, why would they do it. The rational question would be; "why are people doing this". What you will find is once you are in the mosh it is simply pushing a pulling, you will press into others and be yanked away by force. I can't tell you why this is enjoyable, I can try. It is much better if you experience it for yourself. Much like everything else in life, the experience itself is far more valuable and enjoyable then reading someone talk about it. You will never gain experience running a business by working for someone else, only you can take that leap. You will never become understand what its like to grow if you never try. Jump into everything you can as often as you can. The best part is every time you abandon fear and try, it becomes easier.
Secondly the fear of social judgement or failure. The reason the mosh can be intimidating is that you feel like you aren't matching the energy, you are on the out because while you stand there, there are others who are running and screaming with reckless abandon. This divide is not psychological. You are exactly the same as the people in the circle, The only difference is you are outside the circle. If you jump in you will be accepted and supported. This is so similar to many aspects of life. Entrepreneurs will help other entrepreneurs, Artists help other artists. Even if there is a skill divide, the old heads of the community will support the newer generations. The only divide is the fact that before the beginners started, they were not even trying! If you are trying those who are passionate will help you, there is no divide, only a difference in experience.
So jump in the F---ing mosh! You won't know if you don't try, You won't feel if you aren't there and you won't grow if you aren't failing. Abandon fear and embrace the chaos, embrace your doubts but do not let them control you. You will find there are very few things in life that lead to only loss. Even risky endeavours lead to lessons in failure.