Risk. Striking balance between fear and care.

One of my favorite people to follow on Instagram and Twitter is author Jon Acuff. He has written a couple of books – the latest is Quitter. He also blogs regularly at JonAcuff.com. He’s funny and insightful.

On a regular basis he posts thoughts which he has written on sticky notes. Here is a recent one he posted on Instagram:

Dreams are fueled by risk. Risk is stifled by fear.

Acuff posted another note around the same time. This one is even better. I want to make sure you get it, so I’m going to type it and not post the image.

“Our fear is that if we give into hope, we might get hurt if the things we admit we desire don’t come true.

But the truth is, apathy is not a shield that saves us. It’s a blanket that suffocates and eventually costs us the heart we are trying to protect.” – John Acuff

Your dream is a risk.

Simply having a dream, real dream – something bigger than yourself, is a risk. Too often we avoid that risk because of fear – fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of the worst case, fear of what others will say.

Fear will drown you. It will slowly kill you.

Be careful. Don’t be fearful.

One way that fear manifests itself in our lives is through the term careful. We tell ourselves and others we aren’t risking (you fill in the blank) for our dreams because we are being careful. However, if you dive deep into our core, we simply are afraid.

So how do we know the difference? How do we decipher between fearful and careful?

At a recent Sunday morning service, our pastor challenged us with this list of careful versus fearful attitudes.

Careful is thoughtful. Fearful is emotional.

Careful is fueled by information. Fearful is fueled by imagination.

Careful calculates risk. Fearful avoids risk.

Careful wants to achieve success. Fearful wants to avoid failure.

Careful is concerned with progress. Fearful is concerned with protection.

Steven Pressfield in his book Do the Work reminds us that fear is a part of the creative process – creating photography, art, a business, a family, anything. Fear will drive us to quit. It will scare us from taking risks.

It’s okay to be careful. Just don’t be fearful. Push through. Create. As Seth Godin says, “Ship”. Ship your dreams.

 Header image courtesy of Flickr/Kalexander

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