The friend who dared you won’t be there when the bill arrives. Dares are free to give and expensive to take.

Whoever is urging you on has no stake in the outcome, which is exactly why they are so confident. Encouragement costs nothing to hand out, and the consequence attaches only to whoever actually does the thing. That imbalance is not usually unkind, and it is always present.

Before acting on someone else’s enthusiasm, ask what happens to them if it goes badly. If the honest answer is nothing, weigh their opinion accordingly. Being willing to look boring for ten seconds is cheap compared with what the dare was going to cost.