Living In Gratitude: Taking Risks
You miss 100% of the shots you never take ~Wayne Gretzky
Making a big life change is pretty scary.
But, there’s something even scarier.
Regret.
Life is all about taking risks. We do it from the moment we are born but as we get older, many of us shy way from things that seem too uncertain. We begin to play the “What if” game and often get caught up by fear of failure, making mistakes or the unknown.
But consider this: Everything we have ever done in life, we’ve had to do for the very first time. If we always played it safe, we wouldn’t be walking, talking, have friends, own a house, traveled, interviewed for the job we really wanted… Each of those entailed risk. And when we stop and think about it, look how much we’ve achieved!
When we stop taking risks, we stop living life.
Sure, taking chances means at some point, we will lose or make a mistake. But mistakes are part of learning and part of life. They make us wise. The teach us what not to do next time. And that makes them worth making.
Taking risks doesn’t mean we have to jump in blindly. There are many times we can take calculated risks or prepare ourselves to improve our odds of succeeding. But we have to take a shot.
Taking risks can be frightening, whether we’re prepared or not. But by ‘jumping in’, we can overcome our fears and build our courage.
“A ship is always safe at the shore but that’s not what it is built for. ~Albert Einstein
As Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said, “The biggest risk is not taking any risk”. If we never try, we will always be left wondering, “What if?” We will always miss our chance if we never take a risk.
Say yes to new adventures. Accept opportunities with open arms. Take the shot and see what happens.
