Take a risk

Your entire childhood is about reducing risks.

There are two simple goals:

1. Stay alive (aka wear a bike helmet)
2. Get into college (aka do your homework)

Those, I'm fairly comfortable with. Yet, even after the uni years, the warnings continue. People are constantly bombarding you with foreboding words of wisdom.

"Don't walk places at night" 
(or else you'll get murdered!)

"Get an internship" 
(or else you'll never get a job!)

"Establish good credit" 
(or else you'll never buy a house!)

"Get on the property ladder" 
(or else you'll throw all your money down the drain by renting!)

"Start at the bottom and gradually work your way to the top" 
(or else you'll make entry-level wages the rest of your life!)

They have good intensions. And safety is important. So are education and hard work. BUT nobody talks about the positive, practical implications of risk taking. The irony is, being too risk averse is RISKY! It could mean living a boring, unfulfilled life. And what could be worse than that?

Making dynamic decisions is how we discover what makes us happy. Why isn't there at least an equal focus on the benefits of risk taking? Why don't we hear more things like:

"Nobody dies regretting that they travelled to too many places"
(so hit the open road!)

"You'll never know unless you try"
(so give it a go!)

"The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps"*
(so no half measures!)

"Even when times seem tough, remember that everything tends to work out"
(so worry less!)

OK, it's all a bit hokey and easier said than done. But imagine if we lived in a society where these messages were embedded into the culture rather than reduced to motivational Pinterest fodder. Imagine if we really believed them, if we took them to heart, if our lives weren't ruled by trivial fears.

Nope, not relevant. Just happened to appear in the Google Image search for 'risk taking'.
If it's hot water, the risk paid off. If it's cold water, at least it's a good story!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

My New Year's resolution (yeah, it's the 10th of February. So what?) is not to agonise over decisions. I'm going to weigh potential risks far less heavily than potential gains.

Now, for my first risk of the evening: staying here in bed even though I have to pee really, really bad.

Cheers,
Margaret

*Credit: Benjamin Disraeli and Andy Williamson