“Trust your
heart if seas catch fire. Live by love though stars go backwards!” E.E.
Cummings
This
quote is from a movie that I had watched last night on my sofa.
I
had no idea what I was expecting, I had just been looking to watch something
easy and inspiring…and ended up seeing something that stirred a big turmoil
inside of me.
I
want to write about it a little more and share this with you.
The
movie I had been watching is called: Charlie St. Cloud.
The
movie has no big cast and the story is simple, but the characters are deep. It
was a story about letting go, about the beauty of life and stunned me with
pictures of outstanding Canadian scenery and it’s breath-taking, complementing
world of nature! The movie made me want to learn how to sail a boat but most of
all, it was about taking chances; about taking risks.
Sometimes,
we’re faced with mayor decisions in our life, which we know will be life
changing.
It’s
the moment we feel the urge to do certain things, follow a certain path or make
a certain decision.
On
one side, those moments are filled with an inner drive, enthusiasm and
excitement. Our heart is on fire and there is this power stirring within us
waiting to be released. On the other side we’re eye to eye with the feeling of
fear, frustration and resentment.
I’ve
been at those crossroads before in my life.
Sometimes
I took the chances and sometimes I pulled out and away from them. Sometimes,
the voice in my heart was stronger, and sometimes my brain got in the way and
made me follow a different path.
What
does it mean to take a ‘risk’?
Taking
a risk comes with a negative taste and seems unwise and dangerous, resulting
from an underlying, subconscious perception of the possibility of a bad
outcome.
The
dull and raw taste of a ‘risk’ sometimes makes me agonizing over every
decision, squeezing antique memories of failures through the kneading trough
and I’m choking up bad retentions.
But
the more I start looking back, the lighter the taste of a risk is getting. It
is starting to melt away.
The
further I look back, the more I realize that I’m not the old person anymore. My
believes have changed (thank god, otherwise I would still sit here thinking
that ‘success’ in life means winning the gold medal at school race!) and that
no two moments are the same.
Some
‘risks’ don’t pay off, others do more the less, I used to think, but in the
end, actually any ‘risk’ I ever took in live has paid off one way or the other.
It wasn’t really a risk, it was a chance.
It
wasn’t necessarily about the expected, planned outcome but about the journey
itself.
It
was never a path of failure but a journey of collecting experience, knowledge, learning
and growing.
Taking
risks makes way to unforeseen opportunities leading to even bigger visions,
which I haven’t even considered before!
Basically,
there is no such thing as a risk, since there is nothing for us to loose.
Sounds
unreasonable, right?
My
way of thinking here is quite simple.
Have
you never realised that something that happened and seemed like a big disaster
in your life, turned out as a blessing in disguise?
I’m
pretty sure you’re good at remembering some life-changing disasters of your
life. Write down one or two, write down everything about it and how it made you
feel….and then find 3 good things that came from it.
I’m
pretty sure, that after some time of resistance and severe impulses of
reluctance you will be able to find even more than only 3 positive benefits
that had happened to you ever since.
And
there you realise, there is never a real loss, things are just shifting and
always in our favour!
Taking
a ‘risk’ means to set out on your journey, to relax into the uncomfortable
feeling of not knowing exactly how and where it is going.
This
moment makes us feel extremely vulnerable due to the loss of control and
perception.
A
beautiful person throughout once said to me: “Taking
risks and chances isn't necessarily a part of existence but it is
essential to living. Heading for the unknown turns a journey to an
adventure.”
What does it mean taking NO risks?
It means we are shutting ourselves away from the
world, making our own life grey and turn our fields of creativity and happiness
into a desert wasteland.
A lot of times, the cost we pay by NOT taking chances
is much higher than when surrendering to dive right into it.
There were moments in my life where I wished I had
been more courageous, been less wary and where I wished I had trusted in myself
more instead of underestimating my own ability to handle consequences of the
‘risk’ taken.
What’s been holding me back mostly in the past was my
severe concern of what others might think?
I didn’t want to hurt anyone, let anyone down and
didn’t want anyone dear to me to be disappointed. I didn’t want to loose the
self-image I had put up over the years and I cared too much about what others
might think and took responsibility to what they might feel about it!
These circumstances haven’t got me nowhere near to
where I want to be in life and how I want to live and most of all it has been
suffocating my ability to live passionately and to expand and grow, since true
growth is only possible in the eye of change and getting out of our comfort
zone.
I’ve come to realize that sometimes I have to take a
risk in order to be true to who I am and to be able to maintain my values.
I’ve learned that I don’t have to jump into things
with eyes closed, but to open my eyes, face the fear and the delicacy of
vulnerability - and jump nevertheless.
Following my gut against reason has turned many
moments of my life in mere miracles and transformed me into who I am today, so
believe me when I say:
“Take chances, take risks! Paint your life with colors
of passion and get out of your comfort zone! Get out of your head and into your
life, trust what you already know is right and always remember: YOU CAN’T GET
IT WRONG!”
LET’S STOP TAKING ‘RISKS’ – LET’S START TAKING
CHANCES!
