A Roll of the Dice

​Your odds are 51/49 that you'll come out ahead.
Do you do it? Will you take the chance?

I've been thinking about that a lot lately. About the hazards I face and the risks I take every single minute of every day, just to (a) move my body around (b) get from Point A to Point B (c) experience joy (d) eat ....

And that's simply the basics.

People take risks to have children.
They take a gamble when starting a business.
They're exposed to hazards while playing sports or attending live sporting events.
They take their chances while driving, and they face uncertainty when getting into an Uber or taxi.
They put themselves in danger when they choose to have a pet - any pet.
People place their lives in jeopardy while walking down the street.

When I really started thinking about the risks I take every day, really drilling down on alllllll the chances I take, it hit me: EVERY SINGLE THING WE DO IN LIFE IS A RISK.

Everything.

I could delude myself thinking that I'm safe in my bed -- that is, until a tree crashes into my roof and crushes me; or a car crashes through my bedroom wall and crushes me; or a plane makes a crash landing into my home and I go up in flames...

You laugh. It happens!

Cooking my food is safe, until I singe my eyebrows when opening the oven or chop off a fingertip while dicing onions or start a grease fire.

Eating food is safe, right? Wrong. You could easily choke on anything you are eating, given the right circumstances.

Then there are the things people do for the thrill of it:
- careening down the side of a snow- and ice-covered mountain on two long sticks
-  jumping out of a perfectly good airplane
- rappelling down the side of a large jagged rock
- descending 100 feet beneath the ocean's surface with a tank of air and a rubber tube

Everyone's risk tolerance, and everyone's perception of safety, is different.

Some people even drink milk past the expiration date! 

In this era of Covid-19, the choices being made by myself and others in pursuit of living a joy-filled life are something I've been considering with greater awareness. 

For instance, I know 80-something grandparents who prefer to continue spending time with their toddler grandchildren, because to them, life without seeing their grandchildren is not worth living. 

I also know 20-something students who prefer to stay in their home and  not venture out, because to them, they're more comfortable staying sheltered than risking illness.

There is no right or wrong.
Their choices are neither bad nor good.
Their choices work for them.

Yet we judge others for their choices, because that is the nature of humans. Sometimes we even scold them to their (masked or unmasked) face.

Here are a few risky behaviors that most people do daily:
- shower / bathe
- climb / descend stairs
​- step off the curb
- eat
- pick up a child/dog/cat/groceries
- drive faster than the speed limit
- text and drive
- drink an alcoholic beverage / eat an edible / smoke pot, then drive

Every day, people make choices and take chances.
Sometimes, our choices affect others.
Whether we realize it or not - and whether we choose to face it or not - life is a game of chance.
Living life means taking chances.

Our lives are finite. How will you choose to live yours?

**********
I invite you to consider the risks you take, every day, in order to live your life.
Have fun with it and think about the risks taken from the moment you wake up, through your meal preparation, travel, interactions, physical activity, consumption of food and beverages, chores ... until you go to sleep.
What's your risk exposure?
When are you NOT exposed to risk?

How will you move around your neighborhood, your community, and the world to live a fulfilling life, while allowing others to do the same at their comfort level?

Notice when you're judging others whose risk tolerance is different than yours. How do you judge them?

Why do you judge them?

How do you feel when they judge you?

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©Catherine Borowski, 2021
​www.celebratingwealth.com

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