Risk everything for joy.
Isn’t risk awesome?
::eye roll::
The one thing everyone loves so much. Whether it’s embarking on a new journey or ordering food while there’s a serious outbreak of the norovirus, risk is never a comfortable place to be.
Our girl, Blanche, knows this the fear of risk all too well, mostly because she SPRINTS from it! In the episode Great Expectations she realizes she’s been happily dating a man with a bad heart, and bails during THE most telling moment of their relationship: the moment when Steven has a heart attack.
She runs from joy because it was paired with chance of loss.
I heard a quote by Brene Brown once that completely summed up what I’ve felt for a long time: joy is terrifying.
People freak out if they are risking comfort, money, time, pride or something that feels as though it is of limited quantity.
I know deep down (and I’m sure Blanche does too!) that joy will always be worth the risk, no matter what. It will always be worth it. Joy is something you can’t buy, enriches our lives and makes all the lows feel not quite so low.
Aside from love, what makes life worth it all if not joy?
We freak out most when we’re afraid joy will come at the price of one thing:
Our heart
There truly is nothing more rattling than experiencing joy and envisioning its loss. It is so scary because as high as we feel from the joy, the loss of that joy would presumably result in that much grief. The greatest example of this in my own life has hands down been becoming a Mom. That sh*t is no joke and I have never in my life felt more vulnerable.
I’m also trading the joy of working for myself for the risk of others not understanding, making judgements about it or quite frankly, failing.
I’ve had people ask me, Do you actually make money doing that? which is a sh*tty thing to ask (just in case that wasn't obvious.)
All the time I put into working on my social media presence, newsletter, blogging, photographing, making what I sell on Etsy, maintaining relationships, seeking out business ventures and opportunities, participating in online educational courses and/or webinars and all the financial sh*t means that I do the jobs of about 20 people…
…but no one sees (or they definitely don’t consider it and/or assign value to it.) So I do all this and don’t make a crap ton of money right now. All you other small business owners, I see you. You’re not alone.
I’m trading vulnerability by taking a huge risk with my business for joy. Is the risk worth the joy?
Risk everything for joy.
In friendship and cheesecake,