I'm not a risk-taker. I like the surest, safest option. Decisions are long and tedious for me, weighing every possible outcome because I'm afraid of regrets. But I'm beginning to understand that the biggest risks we take in life have the best possible outcomes. And the few I've been willing to take so far have been defining moments in my life.
The time spent at an expensive college that was one of the best times of my life. My marriage to the most wonderful man I've ever met. Time spent living in China, the country that has forever taken my heart. My commitment to God, which is by far the biggest and best risk, the source of all my other risks. And now I embark on another one, that somehow feels far scarier than the rest. Once in high school, my best friend convinced me to jump off of a damn (definitely the riskiest thing I had ever done at that point). This is like a very prolonged recap of the half an hour she took to convince me leading up to the jump.
Sometimes we just need to be willing to take a risk in spite of fear. And let me tell you, I know a lot about fear. The fear is still there, climaxing to sheer panic at times, but I'm pressing forward. One of my favorite quotes is from Anais Nin: "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." We have good reason not to want to leave the safe, warm, and comfortable. But there comes a time when to remain where we are is stifling and painful. Sometimes we have to step out there and at least try to blossom. To open ourselves up to failure and regrets, for the possibility of the beauty of our dreams. And sometimes beyond our dreams. Just sometimes taking a risk leads to beyond our imagination and affects others in a way we never dreamed. 
So research/contemplate your dream thoroughly. Test your heart, really look inside and see if this is where your heart is at and if this is the right timing. Be ready for hard work and some of the most difficult times of your life. But if your still willing to take the risk after all that, then just begin the process already!
Today I got the keys to the building where I will be opening a retail store. The process so far has been scary, and I have a feeling its about to get even scarier, but so far I've learned and grown more than I ever imagined I would. And I think there is more where that came from.Tweet