Fears vs. Dreams

I am proud to say I am a dreamer. I am also a do-er. I hear people saying all the time that they would love to go somewhere or be something or try this or that, but rarely watch people take a leap of faith and DO IT. I think I've always been adventurous and willing to try new things, but because of events that happened December 18, 2008... I am now more than willing. I make it a goal to run toward the unknown, the stuff that scares me, and to reach to places where I feel a little uneasy. I learned a lot that night, but one thing is that with great risk comes great accomplishment, joy, excitement, and sometimes tragedy.

I decided in the weeks following that night that I would NEVER operate out of fear. It's not worth it.

Living a life of no risk is living no life. I know my life seems crazy to some people, but trust me... from my perspective it looks even crazier! I wish so much that I could share so many things with my family and friends that I have tasted or seen or heard. These experiences are usually the product of taking a chance. Today on donmilleris.com one of my favorite authors wrote this and I thought it was so fantastic.

"We don’t normally face our fears willingly. Usually, God has to woo us into the desert. We are either chasing love or some other desire, and we find ourselves in the midst of a situation in which we have very little control. And when we lose control, we go into a mild form of trauma. But the good news is the greatest stories are lived in the desert. The great lives are lived in the places we most fear. If we fear being rejected, the great story has us standing at the door with flowers in our hands, if we fear losing love, the great stories have us letting that person go rather than clinging to them. If we fear taking a chance on a dream, the great stories have us quitting our jobs...

So, what is your greatest fear? And don’t you know, the life you want involves taking that huge risk. It’s scary I know, because the truth is it might end in tragedy. But then again, half of Shakespeare’s plays are tragedies, and nobody thinks of him as a fool. He was brilliant.

May half your stories be tragedies too. And may the other half be comedies that work out great. And may they all be beautiful."

Live your story. Take a risk. Dream on. Live on. Live rejoicing.

Tripp