Comfort Seekers and Risk Takers Part 2
Neither of these are right or wrong. Depending upon the season of our lives one can definitely be better than the other. The trying issue is determining which of these we should be at this moment.
This is also compounded by several factors. Some take risks in order to acquire more comfort. Some refuse risk in order to maintain or even protect comfort. Some take risk without regard to comfort. Some are motivated by greed. Some are motivated by pride. Some are motivated by God. Some are motivated by guilt and shame. Some are motivated by a moral desire to just do the right thing.
So, the questions with which we are left are:
Is it the right time?
What is my motivation for seeking comfort or for taking risk?
What fears are involved?
When I fail is there room for redemption?
Comfort Seekers and Risk Takers
In this period of my life I have been reflecting on why I am doing what I am doing and whether or not the desires that consume me are worthy of being pursued.
What I have recognized is that I am standing at a threshold. Inside the doorway is a warm fire, a leather recliner, the smell of hot coffee and cinnamon is in the air, Barber’s Adagio for strings playing softly in the background and is slightly louder than the murmur of the company of people you love. I’m familiar with all of these and am drawn to these things. I may even long for them at the end of a long day.
On the other side of the doorway is also something I am drawn to and may even long for after a long day, but I am unfamiliar with it because it is only an idea and not a reality. It excites me, motivates me, ignites me to move and will move me…change me…drastically impact the reality I know. All of that is good but I an hindered from stepping across the threshold by the comfort of what I know and by the work that is going to be required if I do.
Work without a guarantee of success. Work that will result in blood, sweat and tears being shed. Work that will be painful emotionally and physically. Work that could destroy the opportunity to experience the comfort of what is inside the threshold.
What I have been trying to do is be a comfort seeking risk taker. What I have now understood is that those two things cannot coexist.
The Temptation of Procrastination
People were created in the image of the Creator-God which should mean that people are therefore creative and are creators, but because of sin we have a resistance to creativity that is called the temptation of procrastination. When we fall into it we become consumers rather than creators, and it can become a viscous cycle of time wasting activity.
I read this two years ago and bookmarked it. After preaching on temptation and bringing up how social media can be a pretty big one I thought it might be a good time to share with you guys in case you don’t follow Seth Godin or may have missed his post. Note that the lizard brain refers to the part of us that is reactive and will remain in control unless we engage the other higher orders of thinking.
Seth’s Blog: Modern procrastination
Modern procrastination
The lizard brain adores a deadline that slips, an item that doesn’t ship and most of all, busywork.
These represent safety, because if you don’t challenge the status quo, you can’t be made fun of, can’t fail, can’t be laughed at. And so the resistance looks for ways to appear busy while not actually doing anything.
I’d like to posit that for idea workers, misusing Twitter, Facebook and various forms of digital networking are the ultimate expression of procrastination. You can be busy, very busy, forever. The more you do, the longer the queue gets. The bigger your circle, the more connections are available.
Laziness in a white collar job has nothing to do with avoiding hard physical labor. “Who wants to help me move this box!” Instead, it has to do with avoiding difficult (and apparently risky) intellectual labor.
“Honey, how was your day?”
“Oh, I was busy, incredibly busy.”
“I get that you were busy. But did you do anything important?”
Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn’t mean mattered.
When the resistance pushes you to do the quick reaction, the instant message, the ‘ping-are-you-still-there’, perhaps it pays to push in precisely the opposite direction. Perhaps it’s time for the blank sheet of paper, the cancellation of a long-time money loser, the difficult conversation, the creative breakthrough…
Or you could check your email.
I would encourage you to engage in a social media, texting, cell phone abandoning, fast and then try to create something with your time. What might you make?