Take Risks

We are seeking balance, security, comfort, and whatever makes our life easier. Our brain is programmed this way in order to survive and keep us safe. Nowadays, we don’t need to fight for our survival in our everyday life, find water, food and to protect ourselves from wild animals as our ancestors did thousands of years ago.

 But is survival the only thing that matters to a human being?

For example, if we could provide someone with a “perfect” environment to live in with full security, where we could cover all their biological needs, they would probably live to be 100. But what a way to live? Safe and secure all the time. So, is it important how long you are going to live or the way you will live your life? Ask yourself. What do I prefer? To live 100 years without knowing my potential, my strengths, and my greatness, without experiences, without living my life? Or, live to the fullest as many years as I can? Which means to welcome every experience that life brings you, learn from them, to know yourself, and your calling in life? Ask yourself and the answer will come to you naturally.

What happens when we don’t risk in life?

1)     You can’t grow

What if I ask that girl out and she refuses? What if I want to turn my passion into a career and fail? What if I invest my money and end up losing it all? If you don’t risk, if you don’t try to do what you want, you won’t gain the knowledge and the experience you would have if you had taken the risk. As Samuel Smiles has said: “We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” So, how are you going to meet new people, how are you going to find your future spouse if you don’t ask the person you like to go out? Are you going to let your talents uncultivated because you were afraid to take risks?

2)     You are overcautious

“If I ask that person out and he/she refuses, it will hurt my feelings and I don’t want that”, an overcautious person would say. “I don’t want to lose my hard working money so I won’t invest it. At least I’ll have money if anything bad happens.” “I want to draw professionally but they might reject me, so I’ll just draw as a hobby.” This is called the timid approach to life, as Jim Rohn described it.

3)     You can’t see past your fears

The fear of taking risks, getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing something new, keeps you trapped and doesn’t let you try. You focus on the obstacles and not on the prize, on the finish line, on the rewards you might get from your efforts. Whatever we are focused on is where we are headed and where we will end up. Imagine that you are learning how to drive. If you focus on the fact that you might crash and not on the fact that you are careful and you have control of the car, you’ll never get a driver’s license, because that’s where you are headed. As a consequence, fear will have control over you. And when fear is in control, you do not welcome new experiences. You’re not going to see, feel, or learn new things.

What happens when we do take risks?

It’s your responsibility to seek a better life. Why? Because you are in control, not the circumstances, not your employer, not your family or anyone else. You want to live and experience everything life will bring you. Even if you don’t know what you like doing, taking risks will help you find out. Let’s say that you don’t know what you’re passionate about, or it’s a mix of different things or it isn’t clear to you yet. That’s great! Go and experience new things. Don’t be scared to get out of your comfort zone. And of course, you don’t have to go all in. Invest some of your time trying new things, hobbies, jobs or anything else you want. Dr. Myles Munroe said: “The wealthiest places in the world are not gold mines, oil fields, diamond mines or banks. The wealthiest place is the cemetery. There lies companies that were never started, masterpieces that were never painted… In the cemetery, there is buried the greatest treasure of untapped potential. There is a treasure within you that must come out. Don’t go to the grave with your treasure still within YOU.”

So it’s your responsibility to find, discover and use the power and greatness within you in order to live an amazing and meaningful life. In the beginning, it will be hard. Getting out of your comfort zone won’t be an easy thing. The first step is always the hardest. Focus on what you want to accomplish and you will figure out a way to overcome the obstacles. Isn’t that risky? Of course, it is. Everything in life is risky. Having a family is risky; raising a child is risky, driving to work is risky. “I’ll tell you how risky life is; you are not going to get out of life”, Jim Rohn used to say in his seminars. Whatever happens in life, taking risks is the only way to discover yourself.