DanaAtkin

I get to meet some pretty amazing people in my line of work. They don’t always know it but they are amazing, loving, generous and kind people. They’re people who want to chase their dreams. They dream of their own business, they dream of finding their purpose and they dream of being confident, of being calm and of being true to themselves. Their dreams are important to them and their dreams are inspiring to people like myself. Once in a while though, I come across someone who is inspiring on a whole new level. And not because of what they may have been through or because of what they want to accomplish but simply in the fact that they’ve come to me for help with their dream.

The thing with dreams is that we tend to feel like it’s a scary or risky thing to pour ourselves into our dream and it can be. Here are two of my favourite things (one quote, one poem which was read out at my year seven graduation in fact) around risk:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud, became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
– Anais Nin

Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken because
the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.
Chained by his servitude he is a slave
who has forfeited all freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

– William Arthur Ward

So while it is scary to put yourself out there for your dream (whatever your dream is) there’s always a way to get there or to move towards it and if you’re not moving towards it yet, it’s also okay to be where you’re at until you’re ready for the next step.

So what about your dream? Is there anything holding you back from achieving your dream? Ask yourself if it’s worth the risk. Remember that a life of what if’s works both ways. What if you fail? but oh.. what if you succeed!?