There’s something to be said about taking a risk, being daring, throwing caution to the wind, and achieving something astounding. There’s also something to be said for being safe, not causing harm, and using your head and your intuition when it comes to taking risks.
The balance between these two sides is a sweet spot of empowerment where you challenge your own boundaries and limits, without hurting yourself or putting yourself in the way of danger in the process.
What is the most daring thing you, personally, can think of doing? Now, ask yourself if it’s also safe? If you’re talking about something like base jumping or learning to parachute, there will be some serious physical risk involved.
If you’re talking about backpacking across a country you’ve never been to, you’re going to need to do some research first. If you want to fly a plane, you’d better invest in some lessons first.
These examples are all inherently dangerous things to do, but the reality of the risk simply isn’t that great. These are things people do all the time with absolutely no incident, and they live a fuller life because of it.
On the other hand, if your newly found boldness takes a wrong turn, and you decide to do something that is both daring and dangerous, you need to stop and think:
- “Why am I doing this?”
- “Will the reward be worth the risk and danger?”
- “Will I be hurting anyone, or hurting myself?”
- “Why is doing this, even if it’s dangerous, attractive to me?”
Often, if we take a look deep into the reasons we want to do something daring and dangerous, we find that there’s something deeper wanting to come out. We find that quite possibly the reason we think we’re doing something isn’t the real reason at all. So, it pays to get to the bottom of your wants and needs for taking the risk.
If what you want to do is daring, yet not realistically dangerous, then, by all means, go for it! If you’re not going to be harming yourself or others, have a go at it! If your reasons for taking the risk are legitimate, then go and knock your socks off!
But if your intuition tells you that something is going to be more dangerous than daring, take some time to figure out why, before you ultimately decide to do… or not to do it.
