As children, George and I were naturals at trial and error. We would try something, fall flat, get back up, and try again. Sometimes we laughed. Sometimes we wailed. Either way, we kept going. Then life became harder.

We were criticized for our mistakes and reminded of our shortcomings so often that failure began to feel dangerous. Eventually, we both learned to protect ourselves from it. We just did it in very different ways.

George became more hesitant to try new things. I went the opposite direction and threw myself headfirst into risk. I learned to push harder, work harder, and prove myself. But emotional risk was different for both […]