– Soren Kierkegaard
Playing it safe isn’t really safe at all: it’s a recipe for depression, boredom, apathy and deadness. If we ponder the people we know who seem the most and least alive – those who are bright with passionate energy and engaged in all sorts of interesting experiences versus those who are dim with apathy and not doing much of anything – it’s clear that daring to go for what we want plays a key role in how we feel and how much life we pack into our days. There are some people who are so daring that just watching them takes my breath away: they put so much on the line that I’m nervous for them, yet somehow, they always manage to land on their feet, or at least to right themselves when they trip, dust themselves off, and race off for some new adventure. They remind me that to feel vibrantly alive, we must summon the courage to take exciting risks and explore new possibilities, and that we really have nothing to fear in throwing caution to the wind.