Every action, every choice, is inherently risk-laden.

There’s the risk that people won’t like what you’re doing, or that they won’t like you.

There’s the risk that you misjudged, that you misunderstood the situation.

And there’s the risk that your choice could make a situation worse, that things might not turn out in the way that you or others would like.

Far better, then, to keep the peace. To not act. To keep your head down.

At least then you won’t imprison yourself with the consequences of an action that failed, a decision that went wrong.

But, here’s the thing – your commitment to acting only when you know it will work out is itself a prison.

And so acting, choosing, taking up your freedom – even at its most creative – always involves a necessary act of destruction without which it’s not freedom at all.

In order to act you need to be prepared to blow apart your certainty, and your surest conviction that you’re doing the right thing.

Photo Credit: Justin Gaurav Murgai via Compfight cc