Your cart is currently empty!
Why Take Risks in Life?
To me, life isn’t fun, interesting, or rewarding without risk!
Why are we afraid of taking risks?
I think we’ve been trained and domesticated by modern society to be risk-averse. Much of modern psychology says that humans are “naturally” risk-averse. I disagree. As children we love taking risks! We build ramps for our tricycles, we climb “dangerous” trees, and we do reckless stuff!
But unfortunately in today’s “helicopter parent” world, we have had all the risk, chaos, randomness, and uncertainty sucked out of life! We are told to shut up, sit down, listen to our parents and teachers, and we eventually become good worker bees.
But if we memento mori, and recognize that we will and must die (it is our human duty to die), why not take mods risks in life? Why not take the more risky, uncertain and adventurous path in life? What do you have to lose? The only thing we should rightfully be afraid of is the risk of permanent disfigurement or an early death. Besides this, we should allow ourselves to take any social risks we desire!
Street photography is all about risk taking. Entrepreneurship is all about risk taking. And real life is all about risk taking! As my best friend Nassim Taleb says, we need “skin in the game!”
To be honest, I think most of us are dying of boredom. We’re bored of our jobs, bored of our daily life, that we get addicted to drugs, alcohol, media, and video games. We are naturally risk-takers, but we don’t have the right avenues to even risk anything!
You don’t need to take crazy risks like jump off a cliff or start a massive social movement. It can be small things; like saying something that you believe in, even though others may chastise or burn you at the stake (like Kanye West). Sometimes even acts of renunciation are extremely courageous; consider how Gandhi went on intense hunger strikes, and how he used the power of nonviolence to overthrow the British empire!
Love risk
Anyways sorry I’m getting a bit off-topic.
Just as a reminder:
When in doubt, always take the more interesting and risky option in life!
BE BRAZEN,
ERIC