Fortune Cookie Friday: Living Is a Risky Business

Life is all about choices. What will we eat for dinner? Where should we go to college? When should we start saving for retirement? Some options are minor decisions while others are major. Some even prevent us from harming ourselves or others. Do we really need to read that text while driving?

When making decisions, playing it safe isn’t always the best method. I don’t recommend throwing caution to the wind and running headlong into danger. Even firefighters and police officers train heavily before dealing with dangerous situations. Safety first!

Most of the decisions we make aren’t life-threatening, but life-changing. Sometimes we benefit from taking the road less traveled. It is at those times that we find out who we are and what we are capable of doing.

We could be considering a different job, trying a new food, or getting up the courage to ask someone out on a date. Sometimes we should just go for it. We can recover from these types of risks if we prepare ourselves for unpleasant circumstances. A little prep can go a long way.

Take learning to ride a bike, for example. It can be challenging to keep our balance while feeling comfortable moving forward. There is the risk of falling over and scraping our knees or bumping our heads, but it’s rewarding when we finally get the knack of it.

We can mitigate some of the risks by wearing protective clothing, like a helmet. We may still fall, but we won’t end up with a concussion. Soon we’re peddling freely on down the road with the sun on our faces.

We can employ this same tactic in other areas of risk. If we wanted to invest our money, we could split up our funds into different accounts. Some could be safe longterm investments, some could be riskier short-term investments, and some could go into a slot machine. With a little diversity, we can risk and save at the same time.

Life is a risky business, but the rewards outweigh the risks. With a little prep and a go-to attitude, we won’t have to play it safe. We can live the life of adventure and excitement. We can live the life of our dreams.