Risky Business

"Of all the people I have ever known, those who have pursued their dreams and failed have lived a much more fulfilling life than those who have put their dreams on a shelf for fear of failure." -Author Unknown

The views while bouldering... really can't complain!
Today there was much sunshine, much exercise, and much conversation. I'm enjoying these beautiful spring days in all the ways I can think of, accompanied by the people I enjoy spending time with, talking until we've exhausted the subjects and fall silent to listen to the rustling leaves and sounds of our breath.

How many ways can we talk about risk?

It sure drums up a lot; fear, doubt, anger, hope, adventure, failure, wisdom. Victory.


Why do we take risks?

Imagine for a moment that no one had taken any risk. Ever. *pause for effect* It's just not possible. It's not in our DNA to never take a risk. Some Neanderthal once upon a time went hunting so that he could provide food and promote the survival of his species - he probably almost died, most likely more than once, but he risked it because it meant LIFE.

One can pretty much take anything that has ever happened in the world and boil it down to some form of risk. Rock climbing? Risky. Getting in a car? Risk. Biking, walking, standing, leaving the house! Risk, risk, risk, risk! (Say it enough times and it'll start to sound weird...) Even the most mundane things have some, albeit sometimes minimal, element of risk. Thing is, if you don't take those risks, there will be no LIFE.

What everyone really goes haywire about though, is risk that involves the intangibles; thinking, feeling, being. If I tell everyone at the meeting what my idea is, I might get ridiculed. If I stop to enjoy the moment, I might miss an important phone call. If I choose to fall in love, I might get hurt. YUP. You might. So why would you ever want to stick your neck out if you can just remain comfortably numb?

How do you honestly feel when you deny yourself the opportunity to take a risk? Sit with the last decision you made, where you had the chance of stumbling into the unknown and then you retreated to safe waters. What is speaking to you?

The dang 5.11a! AJ crushed it.
 In trying this exercise myself, it took me a good 10 minutes to find something I hadn't risked recently (yay, I'm growing!). However, on today's climbing escapade, I gave up the very easy and convenient opportunity to try a new 5.11a - of course, now it's all I can think about. I was afraid of being judged by a new group of climbers I didn't know, I was afraid of failing in front of them. I hate this feeling so much that I'm going to go out of my way to do this climb so I can reclaim this chance. I stunted my own growth, I deprived myself of the chance to learn, to be seen, to experience. Inside, I wanted to do the climb because it's a beautiful and challenging line, but I let my doubt and fear get in the way - in short, I lost out on some of LIFE. I will get that LIFE back.

 It's never really about the people who might laugh at you, the ideas that might not work out, the chance of failing or being hurt. We make a big deal out of that stuff, but it's all the work of the ego - it thinks it's looking out for your best interest, but in addition to helping you avoid actual death, it can overstep its bounds and also steal away your chances at LIFE.

 How much risk are you willing to take? How much LIFE are you willing to LIVE?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To My 86-Year-Old Client

Dear Client, Admittedly, I was nervous about our appointment. I know that your body cannot handle the kind of massage I prefer to give, simply because older bodies tend to me more fragile than those of well-trained athletes. But I refuse to let my preference for working out a rehabbed shoulder girdle get in the way of learning something from every client. So I met you with an open mind. And let me tell you, our session was one of my favorites to date. You are not the kind of client to bliss out, maybe snooze a little, only respond to my voice when it's absolutely necessary. No, you wanted to spend the whole time getting to know each other. You asked me a thousand questions at least. Normally, I only give out bare-minimum answers. Yesterday, I decided to be a human as well as a massage therapist, and offer conversation right back. Turns out, you were quite interested in who I am as a person. All in one hour, you learned where I'm from, told me my high school has a great
Read more

The usual? Nope, no more of that.

Image
Patterns are interesting things. On the one hand, they help us make sense of the world - patterns allow us to group things, to categorize them, to understand their relationship to others. On the other... they just get really OLD. I'm particularly tired of seeking human connections at this moment. In my life thus far, I've been subjected to lying, sometimes to my face, sometimes by accident. I've been cheated on. I've been betrayed. I've been pushed down, called names, made to feel worthless, shamed, guilted, manipulated into someone else's idea of who I should be. I've taken abuse - physical, emotional, psychological, verbal - because I thought it was the right thing to do at one time. I've done some things I'm not proud of, just to try and pick myself up and drag myself over to a mirror, in an effort to identify what these pieces of me are so I can make a project out of sewing them all back together. Patterns - slightly different each time, bu
Read more

Artist vs. Craftsman

I've become fascinated with the idea that there is a difference between an artist and a craftsman. I'm mid-way through Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, in which he describes his life's work in restaurants. It's rather funnier than I anticipated, and riddled with brutally honest truth about the industry, especially in the Northeast. All this entertainment, and I'm still struck by the fact that he chose to make a distinction between an artist and a craftsman: When he assembles a team for his line, he would rather have a cook who can crank out dishes quickly and consistently and takes pride in this ability (craftsman) instead of a cook who becomes inspired to throw a sprig of rosemary in of his own accord (artist) and potentially ruin everything. I have always thought of cooking as a sort of art, but I had never put concentrated thought into the craftsmen who can recreate the chef's art with stunning precision and regularity. Having been immersed in r
Read more