For a second imagine yourself coming out of an egg and finding yourself amongst a lot of movement. You follow who is in front of you, next to you, on top of you and everyone is rushing to go somewhere. You have no idea, but your instinct is driving you towards the water. You try to stay in the group, but some are faster than others and some are trying to go fast. You all head for the ocean. As soon as you reach the water you swim into the sea. You are oblivious of any predators being around you when you left your shell and you are oblivious of any predators as you swim into the sea. Now you could be that one out of a thousand sea turtles that survive right up to adulthood. Risk exists in the natural cycle of life at every moment.
Now, look at yourself. You’re a human being. You’re one out of seven and a half billion. This could be your last second, last half hour, last day, last month or your last year on earth. Perhaps you could be in an incredible job but you have no idea what discussions have taken place with the directors in your company earlier today and before you know it you’ve been laid off work along with some twenty others. Today you could be incredibly well and then tomorrow you feel some pain and go to the doctor it turns out it’s not so serious, but you will need to change some eating habits, or it could be serious. You could be walking on a road and a branch of a tree ends up hitting you. The workers working for the council cut a branch halfway while pruning the trees and forgot to cut it off completely.
You are already risking your life without even thinking about it. So then why are we afraid to take bigger risks yet we unconsciously trust in our daily activities. Taking the secure road doesn’t guarantee anything, in fact, it guarantees a life with lots of regrets. Imagine sitting in something you think is safe all your life and that, what’s keeping you safe one day even breaks down. You might as well face it, you have no idea what awaits you. Most people will say that most risks paid off it’s only a few that went wrong. They didn’t let the few risks that went wrong stop them from risking. If you’re not risking, you’re not living your life to the fullest.
Now, I’m not saying cross the street as the car is approaching. There are some risks you just don’t take, you know these risks require logic. Then there are calculated risks which one would take being fully aware of the chance of failure and being prepared for it.
Taking risks could mean that things could work out the way you’ve imagined, or it could end up being a big mistake. If you’re not making mistakes, then you are not living. The greatest achievers in life have taken risks because if you want to achieve something that not many people can achieve it would mean leaving the comfort zone to try and get it. Facing the fear of uncertainty is better than saying, “What if.” Facing the fear of uncertainty helps with confidence.
It reminds me of the fierce lion or tiger and sometimes I get reminded of the shark, the turtles, and the clownfish after watching “Finding Nemo.” It’s the “law of earth,” the survival of the fittest. Those who fight to survive and never give up are the ones that thrive. The one who made it through the close calls of life and live to tell the tale and these days even make billions selling the tale.
One thing for sure is that any risk you take, you will surely be different to the person you were before taking the risk. By taking a risk and taking actions towards your goals you will be able to learn what you need to do better to get the desired results. The fact that you got started is already worth taking the risk then wonder all your life about it.
The only way you can learn to do something unique is through risk
If you want to live a different experience in life or are inventing something no one has ever invented, then risking is a big part of the mission. Passion driven people risk because what they’re doing fuels their fire more and more and often accidentally these people bump into something innovative by chance or intention.
What comes to mind here are the Wright brothers who were American born. They invented the world’s first successful airplane.
Here’s an exercise for you. Think about all the times you’ve taken a risk. Write them all down on a piece of paper. I’m sure you’ll find more risks from that list that was worth taking a chance on and less that actually went wrong.
I would really like to know about your list and the findings. Drop me a comment.
T. Dench Patel
Thank you for the comments and support. Thank you for offering to donate if there was a donate button on here. I prefer not to take donations. You can support by either purchasing one of my books (Paperback or Kindle), The South African: True Colours, The South African: Roamer or my children’s book Light. These books can be found on Amazon mainly and other sites in your country.
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Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to reevaluate them.
