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.

Opinions without fact or reason leave us believing in nonsense
As financial pain piles up, things just might turn ugly in America
Major parties compete to see who can tell the biggest lie about jobs
I still have trouble accepting that my idealized world doesn’t exist
In a relationship, some words more important than ‘I love you’
Beauty and love are all around us if our eyes and hearts are open to them
World is a surreal alien landscape where nothing makes sense to me
Who are you trying to impress? Answer may explain who you are