"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer, in the long run, than outright exposure. Life is a daring adventure, or it is nothing."

- Helen Keller


I have had a couple of strangely unrelated conversations recently pertaining to the concept of risk. If you look at anyone who's accomplished anything of note in this world, risk was involved.

People love to stand on the sidelines and criticize risk takers. It happens in countless ordinary situations - a girl taking a chance and violating social norms to ask a guy out, for example - as well as in the most extreme situations, such as a daredevil jumping the Grand Canyon or something. There is no shortage of people ready to line up and ridicule someone who takes a risk, and (gasp) fails.

I'd prefer to use a more established business person as an example, but in this case, let's go young: the guy who created Facebook.com now stands to have more personal wealth than he can possibly ever spend because he went out on a limb and followed his intuition in building the Facebook concept and pursuing a passion. And he's only 22 years old.

I love stories like that. I really enjoy hearing about people pursuing what they enjoy, as it usually ends up successful. On the other hand, people who simply don't get it are cancerous. Negativity is like a virus...it spreads and kills everything it touches.

Of course, you have to love those people who confuse reality with pessimism. Those are absolutely not interchangeable terms. Those people are also to be avoided.

Why not face this world with confidence? We were all put here by God. And for a reason. We were all given unique talents which we use to face the world. We were all given the ability to conquer demons and pass tests in front of us.

The greatest reward I've received for taking on risk was meeting my wife. She is so special and incredible that I can't imagine life without her ... but looking back, it was just one lazy decision (among hundreds) that could've altered the future.

There's another individual I know who is working right now to open up his own bar / restaurant / coffee hangout type of place, and I always make a point to ask him how he's progressing. This is a guy who seems to me to be incredibly determined, so I always know there's progress to hear about. And one day, if that's what's meant to be, I know that will happen for him.

The bottom line point I suppose I'm trying to make here is that there is no one on the face of this planet who should stand in your way of making your dream a reality. It doesn't matter what relationship someone has to you - if they are negative and preventing you from realizing your vision, your aspirations, your great huge super-big plans for the world - then ELIMINATE them from your world, either permanently or temporarily, and get back to being and thinking positively.

You are worth far too much to tolerate interference in living a fulfilling, gratifying life. Take a risk ... and another ... and another ... and one day you'll be wondering how it all got started.