For many years I played it safe. I took the stable job. I tried to fit in. I didn’t call attention to myself. I never volunteered to go first. I kept my emotions in check. I made sure that when people looked at me, they saw the person I thought they wanted to see.
And when I had my heart attack in 2005, I found my life had shrunk so much that hardly anything would change if I died. Blah.
Safe or satisfied. That’s the choice. We’re either safe and lifeless, or we’re risking and are satisfied.
When we risk nothing, we don’t show ourself. What if someone doesn’t like us? We don’t standout. What if we become a target? We don’t love. What if our heart gets broken?
When we risk nothing, we don’t live much, and it’s not very satisfying.
When we go for being satisfied, we must be open to risk. We must risk personally. We must risk being rejected, ridiculed, and scorned. We must fail, for to try something new is to experience failure. When we finally succeed, when the authentic ‘me’ connects and loves, when someone else’s life is better because we took the risk and we showed up for them, then we’ll be satisfied.
I’m taking bigger risks now, and I still have room to risk even more. Going for satisfied is a journey not an event.
Which will you chose, safe or satisfied?
