The risk of action

When we draw back from action, we are often motivated not by humility but by fear of risk. We risk so many things when we act: taking a fall, failing to achieve a goal, appearing incompetent, evoking criticism or competition or resistance or anger, or simply being ignored. But most of all, we risk exposing ourselves--selves at once strong and fragile, known and unknown--to the scrutiny of the world and, sometimes less mercifully, to the scrutiny of ourselves.

The greatest risk in action is the risk of self-revelation, and that is also action's greatest joy. No one can know us fully, not even we ourselves, but when we act, something of our inner mystery often emerges, and it can shock or delight when it does.

--Parker Palmer, The Active Life