Babe Ruth once said, "Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."

I was thinking the other day that somewhere, somehow, I'd changed from being someone who'd take the occassional risk to someone who...well, it's not that I don't take risks anymore. I guess I'm just a whole lot more hesitant and wary when I do.

Who knows? Maybe it's the accumulated disappointments and pain from the past --- you have to admit that it plays a big part in the choices you make later down the road.

But is that even any way to live?

The last couple of weeks were just weird ones...days where I sort of felt stuck and like I was on the road to nowhere fast. And all the while, I have this thought in the back of my head about how life's too fucking short to be afraid of anything and that I should just take a chance...on more things.

Anyways, another thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is this: when do you know to give up on someone, when, in your heart, you still really want to be with them? It's just so bloody difficult when you've started to feel like this is the right person for you and that you could potentially be the right person for him...but that fear of rejection and humiliation just gets in the way and makes you feel like it'd be impossible to put your heart out there again.

But no pain, no gain, right?

Or am I just walking down a road that's going to make me wince and cringe years from now...another addition to the painful, humiliation reel that sometimes plays in my mind?

I just don't want to seem pathetic.

Isn't that the real fear here?