Risk is not recklessness when thought and preparation came first.

The difference between risk and recklessness is preparation. A considered risk has known downsides, a survivable worst case, and some thought given to what happens if it fails. Recklessness has none of these and is often distinguished mainly by the absence of the question. The feeling in the body can be identical.

Before anything significant, write out the worst plausible outcome and whether you could live through it. If you can, you are taking a risk. If you cannot, or you have not looked, then the caution you feel is well founded and the answer is more preparation rather than more nerve.