an essay on risk

risk

for a complementary page, see "safety."

The 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.

Only those who dare, truly live.

Ruth P. Freedman

To be alive at all involves some risk.

Harold MacMillan

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

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

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

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

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

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

Seneca

What is more mortifying than to feel that you have
missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?

Logan Pearsall Smith

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

People wish to learn to swim and at the same time
to keep one foot on the ground.

Marcel Proust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life is either always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.

Edith Wharton

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

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