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risk |
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for a
complementary page, see "safety." |
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home - obstacles
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most important word related to risk in my mind is
"discernment." Not all risks are worth taking, but very
many of them are. We hear stories over and over again about the
people who reach the end of their lives and regret the fact that they
never took any risks, that they never challenged life and stepped out and
tried something that was beyond their current existence. It's sad
when this happens, but it's very common--risk isn't easy for many people,
and they pay a heavy price for letting their fear control their decisions
about whether or not to take risks.
But again, not
all risks are worth taking. Sometimes we find someone trying to talk
us into taking a risk with them in a venture that will benefit them more
than it will benefit us. Other times, we face risks to our safety or
health that far outweigh the potential benefits of taking a risk.
Climbing a cliff with no training and no experience is far too dangerous
to be worth the possible adrenaline rush that will accompany the
feat. The chance of falling is great, and the chance of getting hurt
in such a fall is greater still. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't
be willing to take the risk of cliff climbing--but if we want to do so,
let's prepare ourselves for the risk, physically, mentally, and
emotionally.
By the same
token, a heavy financial risk in an unknown venture when you're hurting
for money probably isn't a good idea, whereas a financial risk in a known
venture with a trusted friend or associate may be.
Of course, we
can't prepare for every possible risk in our lives. Things come up
quickly and unexpectedly that force us to make decisions--risk it, or not?
Should I take the new job in a new city and move my entire family?
What happens if things don't work out? Well, that's risk.
Some people want
to take care of every possible outcome of risk before they're willing even
to take the risk. If I do this, then I'll arrange for the potential
failure and have everything taken care of, they think. The bad news
is that nobody's able to control life--that's God's job. We can try
to minimize the risk for the sake of our families, but if we try to
provide for every possible outcome, we're turning the risk into a
calculated venture, and we're trying to control it. We're trying to
"minimize the risk." When we do this, we lose a great deal
of the potential benefit of taking the risk, for we're only willing to
take a partial risk.
On the other
hand, isn't a partial risk better than no risk at all?
There's nothing
saying that we have to take risks, but the lives and writings of many
people who have reached the end of their lives with a great deal of regret
over risks untaken show us that risk is something that can transform our
lives. Risk makes us grow in many ways; it helps us to mature and to
learn and to become stronger, wiser people than we were before we took the
risk.
We have to enter
risk with our eyes wide open, fully aware of the potential problems that
could arise as results of our risk-taking. But we also need to weigh
risks carefully before we ever take them to find out if they're worth
taking or not. When you're faced with an opportunity to take a risk,
remember that risks not taken can be disastrous, but so can risks poorly
considered. Check it out, look it over, and think it through.
If you're not prepared for it, prepare yourself--learn, train, study.
We can't control
the risks or the outcomes of the risk--the only factor that's under our
control when we enter a risk is our own state. Be aware and be
alive--and remember that risks have the potential to be our greatest
teachers, our strongest benefactors, and our best friends. It all
depends on how we approach them.
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Only
those who dare, truly live.
Ruth P.
Freedman |
To
be alive at all involves some risk.
Harold
MacMillan |
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Any
life truly lived
is a risky business,
and if one puts up
too many
fences
against the risks one
ends by shutting
out life itself.
Kenneth
S. Davis
And the day
came when
the risk to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk it took to blossom.
Anaïs Nin
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To laugh is
to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk
appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas,
your dreams,
before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken,
because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing,
have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering
and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks
is free.
Unknown
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All life is a chance. So take it! The
person who goes the furthest
is the one who is willing to do and dare.
Dale Carnegie
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If
your life is ever going to get better, you'll have to take
risks.
There is simply no way you can grow without taking
chances.
David
Viscot
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Yes,
risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would
be called sure-thing-taking.
Tim
McMahon |
If
you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt,
it means you never take
any chances.
Julia
Sorel |
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It is not
because things are difficult that we do not dare;
it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca |
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What is
more mortifying than to feel that you have
missed the plum for want of
courage to shake the tree?
Logan Pearsall Smith |
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If
you risk nothing,
then you risk everything.
Geena
Davis |
What
would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
Vincent
van Gogh |
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People wish
to learn to swim and at the same time
to keep one foot on the ground.
Marcel Proust |
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The
people who have done big things are those
who were not afraid to
attempt big things,
who were not afraid to risk failure in order
to gain success. B.C.
Forbes |
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I
must tell you I take terrible risks.
Because my playing is very clear,
when I make a mistake you hear it. If
you want me to play only the notes
without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake.
Never be afraid to dare.
Vladimir
Horowitz |
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One has to abandon altogether the search for
security, and reach out
to the risk of living with both arms.
One has to embrace the world like a lover.
One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.
One has to court doubt
and darkness as the cost of knowing.
One needs a will stubborn in conflict,
but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and
dying.
Morris L. West |
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What stops people from
trying new things and taking new risks?
They keep doing
the same thing over and over, expecting that they will get different
results. Their ideas
and habits keep them in the same restricted path, like the polar bear at
the zoo who was
tethered when first placed in his enclosure, since it wasn’t finished
and there was
the danger that he might escape. After
the enclosure was completed, he was freed
of the tether, but he continued to pace in the same restricted area.
Similarly,
we sometimes do ineffective things over and over again, and view things
the same way over and over again, and therefore stay stuck where we
don’t
want to be (and don’t have to be, I might add).
Bill O’Hanlon |
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Don’t
be afraid to take risks. These need not be skydiving or mountain climbing,
but simply active efforts in simple daily activities that are so often
avoided
because of the demands of courtesy, social obligation, or the need to act
according
to the expectations that others have of you.
Make a list of ten steps you would take
if you were the person you would like to become.
Take that course that you have been
thinking about; invest in what you have been thinking about; try a new
venture;
try a new route to work; try taking a subway if you have been taking a
bus;
try taking a bus if you have been taking your car.
Ari
Kiev |
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If
I am transparent enough to myself, then I can become less afraid
of those hidden selves that my transparency may reveal to others.
If I reveal myself without worrying about how others will respond,
then some will care, though others may not.
But who can love me,
if no one knows me?
I must risk it, or live alone.
It is enough that I must
die alone.
I am determined to let down my walls, whatever the risks,
if it means that I may have whatever is there for me.
Sheldon Kopp |
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I am willing to put myself through anything;
temporary pain or discomfort means
nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a
new level.
I am interested in the unknown, and the only path to the unknown is
through
breaking barriers, an often painful process.
Diana Nyad |
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Life is either always a tightrope or a feather
bed. Give me the tightrope.
Edith Wharton |
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Accept
that all of us can be hurt, that all of us can—and surely will at
times—fail.
Other vulnerabilities, like being embarrassed or risking love, can be
terrifying, too.
I think we should follow a simple rule:
if we can take the worst, take the risk.
Joyce Brothers |
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One of the
most beautiful things I've ever seen happened in a park. There was
a mama and a papa who had taken--actually taken the time from this mad,
busy schedule of all these essential things to be done, to take their
little child
to the park. Their little kid was walking down to the
lakeside. Papa saw this,
and started to stop him. Mama, who must have been a very unique,
lovely
person, reached out and grabbed him. She said, "Let him
go!" And down
toddled this kid, just barely able to walk. This tale has a happy
ending;
the baby didn't drown. I'm sure Mama's heart was pounding hard.
But all growth involves risk.
Leo
Buscaglia |
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Sometimes
life frightens me and I’m tempted to retreat instead of risking
failure.
But when I challenge this fear and choose to take a risk, this
stretches my soul.
By forging ahead and trying something new—even
when I am scared—I perform an act of courage.
And this act of courage
strengthens my soul and strengthens my character.
John Gray |
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If
we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd
never
have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be
cynical.
Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time
and build your wings on the way down.
Ray
Bradbury |
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