Take the Risk
I love to encourage people to follow their dreams.
Following my dreams has been the single most excellent motivator in my life; it’s what gets me out of bed in the morning. My biggest dream I am still chasing today, although life has brought me to a place where I’m chasing it most unusually and uniquely, I’m more convinced of my destiny than ever before.
Dreams can change; old dreams can be replaced with new ones. If you didn’t pursue a goal earlier in life, it’s never too late to follow the same one or a new one now. I say go for it, and you’ll find that doors will open; you’ll be presented with opportunities you would never have had if you played it safe instead.
Through the years, I’ve often wondered why everyone doesn’t chase after their dreams. Is it because they don’t have them? Is it because they don’t believe it’s possible to achieve them?
I’ve heard people describe their dream as a pipe dream, defined in the dictionary as an unattainable hope or plan. I guess they say that because, at the outset, they told themselves it wasn’t possible, or maybe they tried, gave up, and decided it wasn’t meant to happen.
For those of you who do believe it’s possible to accomplish your dreams, you may have weighed the risk. Many people are risk-averse. Some might say that taking the risk of following your dream is careless and self-destructive. I believe the opposite. I would never categorize carelessness and self-destructive behavior in the same category as following your dreams — no matter how risky.
Many of you who were reading this were fans of my father, Gary W. Moore, who started this column four years ago. He was an author who is most known for his novel, Playing with the Enemy, which is still in print today. Playing with the Enemy earned him a great deal of fan mail. It was his first book, and everyone seemed to love it.
One person wrote to my father and told a story of how he was a successful lawyer with a great family and how Playing with the Enemy taught him to forgive himself. He had gone through many years of regret, beating himself up and feeling like a failure.
When my dad told me the story about this man, I thought to myself, “How could he possibly feel like a failure? He was a successful lawyer with a great family; what more could he want?”
It turns out he was an outstanding boxer in his younger years. He decided to pursue a law career and give up his dream of being a professional boxer because it was just too risky. In the years after his decision, he began to have regrets; as time went on, the regrets started to grate at his soul. It wasn’t until he read my father’s book decades later that he decided he needed to forgive himself.
That story has stuck with me through the years. He didn’t follow his dreams because he felt it was too risky.
It reminds me of my favorite quote by Jim Rohn, “It’s all risky, the minute you were born it got risky, if you think trying is risky — wait till they hand you the bill for not trying. If you think investing is risky — wait till you get the tab for not investing. It’s all risky, getting married is risky, having children is risky, going into business is risky, investing your money is risky, It’s all risky; I’ll tell you how risky life is — you’re not going to get out alive….”
If you think following your dreams is risky — wait till they hand you the bill for not following your dreams.
It’s all risky. Are some dreams riskier than others? It all depends on what you’re willing to risk.
Are you willing to risk facing the consequences for not stepping into the fullness of your destiny?
