Why you should stop worrying and do that crazy thing you've been dreaming of

This is in part a lecture to myself, but I wanted to get the motivation juices flowing for you too.

So, why should you stop worrying and do that crazy thing you've been dreaming of, especially when there's so much at stake.

You could fail. You could look like a fool. You could waste time, money, energy. You could end up back where you started.


Here are three reasons why you should kick those stupid thoughts to the curb.

1. Fear is ugly.
Fear is what drives selfishness, it's the little voice in your head that tells you to be less honest, less bold, less yourself. But true beauty is letting go of the fear and letting the weirdness of you, flourish.

There is something very attractive about conviction, not caring what others' think, about knowing thyself.

Make an effort to know yourself, and not just the nice bits. Because once you've faced up to who you are, you can continue the work of surrendering to God, and let go of the fear.

2. We are constantly enjoying the fruit of other people putting their dreams into practice.
The death of Steve Jobs reminded us all that life is short, and that it's not worth holding back.

It takes pioneers, artists and entrepreneurs to show us what we need or want before we realise it. And I'm not talking about gadgets. Sometimes we need words of truth and love, but we resist them until they find us. Sometimes we need to hear a story of redemption, before we can see we were stuck in guilt and sin.

That crazy thing you're dreaming of can be a service to the people around you. And if it's not a service to the people around you, maybe you need to think again, because the world needs people to take risks on its behalf.

It needs people to cross borders to heal the sick and revive the spiritually dead. It needs people to stop thinking only about themselves, and do something crazy for someone else.

3. You will learn from the experience.
That one speaks for itself. But think back on risks you've taken in the past and reflect on the lessons you've learnt. Uh huh.

So go do it!

miniature new york

I can't stop staring at this photo. No, it's not fake, it's not a miniature. It's a real photo, taken at a wedding, by Max Wanger.

sometimes I forget there are stars in the sky

So you've seen the sun rise from earth. But have you seen the sun rise from just above the earth, from space? Check out this amazing time-lapse footage of the earth at night taken from the International Space Station.

I watched it without reading a description of what it was passing over, which made it pretty exciting, but also a bit baffling. So I'll help you out:

The space station flies over North and South America, then ends in daylight near Antartica. You can also see lightning (those bursts of light), the earth's ionosphere (the yellow line), a satelite and stars in our galaxy.

Amazing.

The Hour of the Spoon

You can tell by Kate's crazy hair it's the HOS...

Our house seems to be experiencing the "hour of the spoon" a lot lately.

You know that time of day when simply holding up a spoon makes everyone laugh racously for no reason? When you run down the street to get icecream, giggling and tripping over things? When you find it hard to put sentences together you're laughing so much? Last week, I was even forced to ride one of those novelty kids rides at the supermarket while being filmed during spoon hour.

Spoon hour is one of the reasons I love share-housing.

Ryan Adams back in form?

This little preview of Invisible Riverside from his new album Ashes & Fire makes me think yes.



And another sneak peak here.

So glad he's come home to country after the wilderness years....

Sophia

Laura Marling is one seriously prodigious 21-year-old. I was transfixed by her when I saw her play the Metro last year, and her latest single continues to leave me in awe.

Sophia seems to morph from a kind of dirge to a catchy country-pop anthem without notice. Amazing stuff. And I still can't stop comparing her to Joni Mitchell.

At Sea

I can't decide whether this wallpaper is my dream wallpaper, or would daily leave me feeling seasick. What do you reckon?

On the weekend I picked up a 1940's clothbound copy of Charles Lamb's Essays of Elia, for $1.99, at Salvos. I think it would look rather splendid on that sidetable.

h/t Design Sponge.

Wallpaper by Abigail Edwards.