Take A Risk
Standing with my toes on the threshold of the door, poised to jump. I’m willing to risk change. I will take a risk and see where it leads me. That is where I am right now as I get ready to go public with a story that tells where I have been. So what if it goes absolutely nowhere? I honestly don’t care. It was the process and the practice. It was the experience. I have told a story about someone I was. I have written an account of my youth and the mindset of my younger self. I have left that person behind and have learned from those mistakes. I loved writing this memoir and reconsidering all that I experienced. I enjoyed remembering where I had been and how I have come to the point I am now. (Read more about the book)
When I searched for a definition for risk the first response was “a situation involving exposure to danger.” Risk then is quite arbitrary in nature – one’s personal idea of what a risk is can vary dramatically not only from individual to individual, but within that very individual’s own life experience. A healthy, young person risks nothing really in climbing a hill or fording a stream, but those very actions for a two year old or a 90 year old may have vastly different outcomes. There are emotional/psychological risks, physical risks, and financial risks to name a few areas and each person may be bolder or braver in any given category. I tend to be stronger and braver in emotional endeavors than I am physically.
Perhaps there really are no risks in life if you look at those choices and learn something. Is a failure not also a success if it teaches you something? Perspective and expectations have been topics of discussion here in this blog and I know that my mind has many options in how things can be understood. What then would I consider to be a risk? If risking something means taking a chance with the hopes that it will go a certain way, and something can be gained from it, then it never was a risk at all. If I redefine for myself what risk is, perhaps I can be bolder and braver in other parts of my life. So, I do not take risks. I take opportunities. That is how I will define it.
What opportunity will come knocking for you? What risk will you take tomorrow?
So to quote you, “So, I do not take risks. I take opportunities. That is how I will define it.” I love that! I will enjoy more opportunities than using the “negative “risk” word.
I never thought about the way you describe risk…..with the hopes that it will go a certain way ….was it a risk at all? hmmmmm Risk to me has fear, it’s dangerous, and there’s the vulnerability and susceptibility and although it is dangerous and full of fear, there is and should be the hope of gaining something, whether financial, acceptance, security or even peace/joy or freedom of something or someone. But I think the word Opportunity rather than risk changes the whole mind/brain game. I think I would have to decide whether it is time to risk or a time to open the door to see who is knocking. But I am weighing on the door. Thanks for opening my door to new opportunities and helping me along the way when the door is sometimes difficult to open. Really enjoyed your blogs. Thanks
Linda, you have never shied from taking opportunities! You have answered the door so many times and keep going back for more. You have always impressed me as a person who believes in “nothing ventured, nothing gained!” I wonder if you like this post because it supports exactly what you have repeatedly practiced since I first met you and the way it is framed here shines a light on your irrepressible sense of adventure and thirst for opportunity. I am delighted that you read and enjoyed the posts. I hope you will come back for more!
Wow thank you! That means a lot to me, to hear you actually see me as someone that’s ” okay. “
Jill, I thoroughly enjoyed your book, “Don’t Ask Me Why”. I hope the rest of the family reads it. It was beautifully written
There is Fear and there is Faith; they are truly opposites and from different realms. Feel fear and fuel Faith. I think Risk is a fear-based decision model more appropo for the business world. Hope is faith-based model more appropo for the spiritual world. Personal growth is spiritual in nature and requires risk and sacrifice but with an underlying and undeniable trust in a greater power. Our faith journey is a video rather than a snapshot of the path along the way. Faith is like car headlights in the dark – you can’t see the destination but you know the path lit ahead leads there.
Read the book Secrets of the Vine because it is all about growth and change. We never leave the way we came in.
Joe
Thank you Joe for every bit of your well thought out, beautifully worded comment. I will seek out Secrets of the Vine because change and growth are a major focus for me these days and I am always searching for new perspectives. I appreciate your taking the time to read the book, stop by here, and offer a new avenue for learning.