As I look back over my life and realize how many chances I’ve taken, it makes me wonder why taking chances can still frighten me. The unknown hasn’t always made me feel afraid but it has done so for most of my life. Despite the fear, I still like taking chances and exploring a lot of possibilities. Here’s why.
For starters, taking chances gives me a lot of cool stories to tell. That’s one of the greatest benefits of going a lot of places, meeting a lot of people, and doing a lot of things. I always come home from those adventures with lots to talk about and lots of things to share. They give me plenty of great experiences, insights, and lessons to share. I wouldn’t have those if I had stayed put and stuck to a more traditional life path.
Stepping into new experiences also keeps me from wondering what would have happened. This one has gotten me to do a lot of things despite feeling afraid. There’s nothing like the threat of regret to nudge me toward yes to something I want to do. Even if it ends up being a letdown or a dead end, at least I’ll know whereas I may not have known had I said no.
Speaking of dead ends, sometimes it helps to remind myself that it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t work out; I can always shift into something else, even if I don’t have a backup plan ready in advance. I’ve learned enough difficult skills to know that it often takes many attempts before success arrives. If it becomes clear that some change is required to bring about success, I’ve gotten good at pivoting into that change. This isn’t always easy and it’s almost never instantaneous but it is doable, so I know that I won’t be stuck in a painful situation the rest of my entire life.
It can still be scary to step into something new without knowing what’s on the other side. I’m feeling some of that fear right now as I’m in the middle of some big life changes. No idea what’s going to happen, when it’ll happen, or how I’ll feel about it. Fortunately, the fear of change is much smaller at this point. Even when it does appear, I’ve gotten good at carrying on anyway. In times of doubt, I also like to remember how I’ve often found what I was looking for by going way off the beaten path and not knowing how it’d turn out. In many cases, I also got a great deal of benefits that I never imagined. This is wonderfully illustrated in The Truman Show when Truman began to notice some of the flaws that gradually revealed the false world he was living in. He kept thinking of a button someone once gave him that asked “How’s it going to end?” That’s what he had to answer for himself. He could stay in the imaginary world where he’d be safe from all harm or he could go out into the real world with a lot of unknowns and make his own way in life. He chose the second option. I’m choosing that option as well. Which one will you choose?