Most of us remember a time when someone around us dared us to try something. Possibly, it was something we would now consider normal and easy, such as jumping into a swimming pool for the first time. Maybe it was something much more daring, reckless even.
Some of us, no doubt, will remember things that we tried earlier in our lives, that we now say we 'shudder to think about', although they are things that we actually did earlier in our lives.
I ask, however, what happened when we took the dare and did it?
First of all, we did it and survived. Possibly, we did it and enjoyed it. Maybe we did it and realized that once was enough and we would never try that again. We might have realized that we were lucky to have survived something so dangerous, and lived to talk about it.
Remembering a daring thing we either tried on our own initiative, or at the urging of someone else, we probably consider it as something from a time when we were both, much younger and, definitely more reckless.
In fact, today we probably wouldn't even consider something so risky or daring. We may even be considering what we tried then to be foolish and stupid. Almost certainly, we feel we are older and wiser now.
I have no doubt, that a sense of our own mortality that was probably absent from our early years, accompanies us much of the time today. We probably also consider that we we have responsibilities to and for other people to consider now.
After thinking about all of the above, it might even make us wonder whether we should be even more cautious and careful than we already are. We might even resolve to take fewer risks than we now do.
I suggest instead, that before we go down the road to insulating ourselves further, from real or imagined dangers, and start thinking about all of the things that can go wrong in life; we instead begin to think about all of the things that could go right in life, if only we dared to try them.
Sometimes thinking about 'What's the worst that could happen?' should be put aside in favour of 'What's the best thing that could happen?' instead.
It is only by daring ourselves, that we will push ourselves out of our routine and begin to revive our lives and change them into something we consciously enjoy.
Turn the Cruise Control off now. Start small. Although this may be something as small as driving down a new street, trying a new food or coffee, or simply consciously changing something in our attire or routine; we will have taken the first small step toward moving forward.
Soon, after these first small changes succeed, we can consider, what we might try next.
No comments:
Post a Comment