Nothing is objectively safe. What we call “safe” is simply feeling comfortable—feeling capable of navigating our environment, convinced we’ll survive what’s ahead. Safety is a subjective assessment, not an external condition. As Brett Kistler puts it to Joe: “Safety just means that I’m convinced I’m comfortable, right?”
This realization came to Joe through base jumping, where the sport’s literature is explicit: “There’s nothing you can do to make it safe. You can make it less dangerous.” The same applies to business, relationships, and life generally. We can reduce danger, but the feeling of safety is always an internal construction.
What makes this insight powerful is that it cuts both ways. We can use the feeling of safety to stay in contact with reality—or to disconnect from it. The feeling of safety can be an honest assessment of readiness, or it can be a story we tell ourselves to avoid confronting uncomfortable truths.
“Safety is an illusion. Nothing is safe. We will call something safe if we feel comfortable, if we feel like we can be in flow, if we feel like we are capable of navigating the environment.”
Related Concepts
- Fear is excitement without the breath
- Financial safety is not about money
- Knowing yourself is the only safety
- The pursuit of safety can disconnect you from reality