Risk comes in all shapes and sizes

Published 9:03 am Monday, December 7, 2020

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Are you a risk-taker?

You are, you just may not know it.

As human beings, I believe that each of us possesses a certain intrigue and curiosity that pushes us forward in life.

I recently watched a documentary about the founders of Heinz Ketchup, Coca-Cola and Kellogg’s Cereal.

Anytime I watch anything about great inventors or entrepreneurs, I find myself fascinated because deep down I understand that I am not willing to take the risks necessary to have an impact on the world as they did with their ventures.

I admire those people who have the ability to take leaps of faith for something they believed in, and in many cases sounded crazy at the time.

However, before I start second-guessing my life choices, I always realize how fortunate I am and how much of a risk-taker I actually am.

If you really think about it, we are all risk-takers even if you don’t realize it. It is in our nature as human beings.

Anyone who is married has taken a risk, because it takes great courage to get down on one knee and ask someone to marry you with a probability always lingering, no matter how slight, that she may say no and embarrassment may await on the horizon.

That may not seem like much of a risk, but don’t kid yourself, it is a risk indeed.

For some people, taking risks is a way of life and some have even made a career of it.

Although the rest of us have what we may consider very conservative and simple lives, plenty of risk remains on a day-to-day basis.

Taking risk has developed a negative and dangerous connotation over time, but it is all about the degree of risk that you choose to take that makes it dangerous or not.

Just like anything in life, there is a wide discrepancy from Evil Knievel jumping 14 Greyhound busses to someone proposing.

Both can present physical and mental stress, but to far varying degrees.

I like to think I play it safe in life, but I also realize that risk is just a part of life and it is not 100% avoidable.

I’m no Evil Knievel by any means, but I don’t live a boring life, and I trust that you don’t either.