What If Playing It Safe Is the Real Risk?
In Short:
Chase Jarvis challenges the idea that safety and success go hand-in-hand.
As therapists, we see firsthand how fear of failure holds people back—not lack of talent or desire.
This post explores how the Never Play It Safe mindset aligns with emotional growth and therapeutic change.
Let’s Be Honest: Playing It Safe Doesn’t Always Feel Safe
Many of us were taught to avoid risk. To choose the stable job, the “smart” relationship, the path that made sense to everyone else—even if it didn’t make sense to us.
And yet, I see it every week in the therapy room: people exhausted by the very lives they were told would keep them secure.
Enter Chase Jarvis, photographer, entrepreneur, and author of Creative Calling, who flips the script with one bold message:
“Never play it safe.”
At first, it sounds reckless. But stay with me.
This isn’t about being impulsive or throwing your life into chaos. It’s about waking up to the fact that playing it safe often means abandoning the parts of us that want to come alive.
The Real Risk? Not Trying at All.
Jarvis argues that the greatest danger isn’t failure—it’s regret. As a therapist, I’ve watched this truth unfold in so many forms:
The person who stayed in a job that dulled their spark
The parent who postponed creativity “until the kids are grown”
The people-pleaser who never let anyone see their full, weird, wonderful self
The burned-out achiever who can’t remember the last time they felt joy
So many of us have learned to perform safety. But deep down? We’re scared that this life, this version of us, is all there is.
“Creative” Doesn’t Mean Artistic—It Means Alive
One of the best things about Creative Calling is that it redefines creativity. Jarvis isn’t just talking to painters and poets—he’s talking to humans. He believes creativity is our birthright. It’s the way we solve problems, tell stories, build relationships, and make meaning.
In therapy, I call this authentic expression. It’s not about performance. It’s about presence.
What parts of you have been muted in the name of playing it safe?
What dreams or risks are you denying—not because they’re wrong, but because they’re real?
Why This Message Matters in Therapy
Most people don’t come to therapy asking how to be more creative. They come asking how to feel more like themselves.
But often, those two things are the same.
Jarvis’s book dovetails beautifully with what we help people do every day at Empowering Change:
Reconnect with the parts of themselves they’ve ignored
Challenge perfectionism and the fear of judgment
Build emotional tolerance for failure, discomfort, and uncertainty
Find the courage to risk being seen
What This Might Look Like in Real Life
Saying yes to something before you feel ready
Starting a project that has no guaranteed outcome
Leaving a relationship where you’ve gone invisible
Signing up for a class that lights you up but scares you to death
Sharing your story out loud—even if your voice shakes
This isn’t just about making art. It’s about making a life that feels like yours.
Final Thought: Safe Doesn’t Mean Satisfied
There’s nothing wrong with stability. We all need a foundation. But when “safety” starts to cost you your joy, your growth, your voice—it’s time to ask if the tradeoff is worth it.
Chase Jarvis doesn’t hand out a formula for creative living. What he offers is far more powerful: permission to stop waiting and start choosing.
Choosing aliveness over approval.
Presence over performance.
Curiosity over certainty.
As a therapist, I can’t think of a better call to action.
💬 Want support as you step into something new?
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