By Samantha McKenzie

Inspiring women to chase after their dreams and follow their passions comes at a high price. The stakes are steep and the sacrifices are almost insurmountable. The acceptance rate is low and the negative comments usually come from the people we care about the most. But we do it anyway.

We encourage ourselves, our friends, our loved ones to push the envelope, cross every line, walk along the edges and chase every dream.

Why not? If you’ve lived long enough, you already know what it feels like to fall down. We encourage diving over settling. We invite others to give up their safe, cushy, comfortable lives, with the slim odds of gambling on their abilities.

We ask you to break traditions that no longer serve you. We invite you to relinquish roles that make you unhappy.  We want you to abandon fears for the sake of your future.

Why? Because the heart was meant to take risks and a real life is made up of all types of “can you believe it” experiences. The streets of our existence are graciously paved with both successes and failures, joys and sadness, and all sorts of juxtapositions.

Look around you. The happiest among us are the ones who went against the grain, tolerated the “you’re crazy” comments and plowed away at what they believed in, regardless. They didn’t expect things to be easy. That would be the expectations of the ordinary. They knew from the moment they stuck their neck out there, that they were rolling the dice on uncertainty.

They overcame their inhibitions and they toiled away.

So here’s to all my full steam ahead, nose-diving, slaying ’em women who dare to dream big. We support you.