The risk is not following your heart.
Oh, but you protest—I have responsibilities.
What you really mean is: I won’t, because I’m more committed to someone else’s dreams.
The morning I called my manager to resign from my corporate career, I told him that I wasn’t going to work for a competitor—a big fear in that business—and that, in fact, I wasn’t going to work for another company in any industry. I told him about my desire to pursue my dreams, to step into a new chapter in my life, to have the space and time to create something from nothing.
I expressed my gratitude for the experiences, the support, and the collegiality. I asked his permission for me to call the executives on my team, to tell them personally. He supported that request.
Then, he said, “I have to tell you that I’m really jealous.”
And, in my conversation with every, single executive that day, I heard the response, “I’m really happy for you. I wish I could do the same thing.”
I felt stunned by these unexpected responses. After all, they each had a much higher salary than I, had more years of earning power, and possessed important entrepreneurial skills and, in this very competitive industry, were considered amongst the best at what they did.
From my perspective, every one of them could do exactly what they dreamed of doing, now. Yet, each of them were telling me that they were more committed to making the dreams of the CEO come true.
I was unprepared to hear the truth: that they weren’t ready to follow their hearts.
Yet, of course I understood. I lived in that space, too. We all live in a space comfortably, until we won’t. Until the noise within become too loud, too clear, and too direct, we stay put. That's the only choice. So that's the perfect choice. Until it's not.
The only risk we face is believing that what we truly desire to experience in this life can’t happen for us. Millions of people, every day, live in the center of their dreams.
Why not me?
Why not you?
The only risk is inaction.
The only risk is ignoring what’s possible.
The only risk is denying our heart’s urging us to a higher purpose, to our own expansion, to our next version of ourselves.
Is it time for you to leap?