I like things to be easy.
When I was young, most things came very easily to me. I didn’t have to work hard for much of anything. I quickly learned to stick to the things which were most obvious to me — and which impressed people the most — and just sit back to receive the praise.
For the most part, I‘ve done the same thing for my adult life. Unless I have a huge incentive, I stick to what I know how to do. It’s safe. It gets the praise I crave. And it keeps me from having to risk failure.
But every now and then, I push myself into something completely new. The old fears start surfacing. What if I’m a fraud? What if I fail at this? What if I‘m just embarrassing myself? What if I’m not perfect?
I’m in that position right now as I work toward the first complete episode of my new podcast, Love & Hope. (Listen to the three-minute introduction here.) I know the things I need to do. I’m working on them. But I’m not an expert at these things — and I once again feel the old fear of not being perfect.

To unlock your heart for real love, you must embrace vulnerability
What do you love enough to want once more before life slips away?
ABC execs’ desire to delay interview shows misunderstanding of their job
Our need for love lets us ignore past pain and feel hope instead
Forced sterilization gets to heart of arrogant progressive agenda
Be afraid, friends: Chicken Little says the sky is falling somewhere
Boston ‘gay on gay’ assault shines light on absurdity of ‘hate crime’
Muslims protecting Christian church remind us there’s good in all groups
13 observations as we watch for the world to burn in Trump era