Summary Notes: Are you ready to take the plunge?

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin

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One of the things that captured my attention in this conversation was that risk is contradictory. There seems to be a line between the things that we are frightened of doing and the risks that embody what it means for us to be intuitive and natural, adventurous, true to our principles or authoring our own lives. A distinction that on first glance is not easy to decipher.

What is it that makes riding roller coasters a thrill that is joyfully pursued during summer vacations by our guest speaker, Michele, yet keeps her off of her apartment balcony because it is too high? Isn't height part of the attraction to riding roller coasters?

The stories shared of life altering moments were varied and spanned several decades and continents. They mirrored the contradiction where actions we took in our lives that were life changing somehow did not seem to fit with the places and times we felt fear or out of our comfort zone. For many of us, it was true that in the moment of living we did not take the actions with risk taking in mind. More often than not it was because that moment was true for us. It was simply the right thing to do. It was upon personal reflection or having the moment named by someone else that the identity of self as risk taker was considered. Our guest shared that for her being politically active and being engaged in protest was intuitive and natural and that many of the things people named as examples of her being a risk taker were merely times when she was living her life in a way that fit best.

It was iteresting that for many this shifts dramatically in the workplace or other such institutional settings. Somehow the reality of someone else monitoring and evaluating our actions and we become more self conscious and aware that the actions we take, or dream of taking, are risky rather than adventurous. In many instances of risk taking in the work place, people had developed personal strategies for how to best package and deliver the risk taking we were inviting others to join us in.

Maybe a life worth living needs to embrace 100 words for the word risk to fully capture the complex lives we each live and the way we approach doing that authentically.

Maybe a institution becomes more authentic when its ability to be a risk taker and create a safe environment for adventurous creative thoughts and actions outweighs its need to cautiously measure its success.