Which end of the spectrum?

This past week I was reading and praying and two pictures came to mind. The first was of a person in a fetal position...fearful, fists clenched tightly, holding on to what's "mine"...The other picture was that of someone laying down, arms stretched out to the side, palms open...All of a sudden that picture caused me to think of Christ on the cross...and then I connected Christ's call to lay down our lives, take up our cross, die to ourselves, surrender everything...all...If those two pictures are at either end of a continuum. And we're all somewhere on that continuum. I know which end I want to be at...but I also know how I'm drawn or I can bend toward the fetal position, especially when times are tough. Survival, self-preservation - those are both strong impulses...but, there is a better way...the way of Jesus...who calls us to lose our lives in order to find our lives...do I really believe that to be the way to the life I want???