Dare To Be Ridiculous

"Appreciate the gift in exquisite detail, turn it over in your mind like a treasure unexpected. Let yourself be overcome by the miracle of it, that you stumbled on something divine in human form, and took it all the way into your heart. Go ahead, be ridiculous. Let the smallest thing mean everything. Forget about being rational and classifying this experience in any particular category. You’ll miss out on something amazing if you do that, and trust me, you don’t want to miss it." - Jen Lemem on Love

I stumbled upon Jen's blog recently and read an entry in which she admitted that she falls in love over and over again and didn't realize that NOT falling in love was one of her options. She then challenged someone to write a post for her about how NOT to fall in love since she said she clearly had no idea how to do that. So as someone who doesn't fall in love easily or often, I was quick to accept her challenge. And then I remembered that the last time I told myself I wasn't going to fall in love (or even develop the smallest of feelings), I fell hard.

It's a given. Love turns you into a crazy person. I'm a firm believer that those who have never felt crazy have never been in love. Love will have you thinking irrationally, speaking irrationally, and doing irrational things.

"David, slow down. Break it off. Be realistic here. THINK!" That is what my inner voice says to me. First as a soft whisper. Then as a stern talking to. And finally it turns to boisterous yelling!

There is no other area in my entrepreneurial life where I would ever listen to my inner voice telling me to "be realistic." So why in the world would I entertain the thought of "realistic" when it comes to love! But I do. And chances are you do too. The good news is that love won't permit it. Love silences that inner voice because love doesn't like sensible. Love loves ridiculous! Be thankful that it does because otherwise you would miss out on something amazing. And trust us when we say, you don't want to miss it.

You have to take chances in life - in everything from business to love. You have to put yourself out there and do something that scares you. Something that doesn't fully make sense, even to you! You have to say "I know this is ridiculous, but I want to see what happens."

And what's so wrong about being ridiculous anyway? Some of my best mistakes came from me being ridiculous. That's right. I said MY BEST MISTAKES.

So go ahead. Dare to fall in love. With someone else, with your yourself, with your work, with your wildest dreams. Dare to be ridiculous.