Thoughts on… Risk and uncertainty
I’m baffled that I haven’t written about this before. And no, I’m not talking about Risk the board game… I’m going to be talking generally about how risk-averse I’ve been thus far (with exceptions) as well as talking about the part risk-taking might play in our survival as human beings. Risk has cropped up several times in my personal therapy and the first time it was mentioned by my therapist, I kind of batted it away like ‘that’s not what’s going on’ but the more we’ve talked, the more relevant it has become.
I’ve slowly come to this realisation that I’m generally risk-averse or in other words, I’m really reluctant to take risks and my tendency is definitely not to take them wherever possible. A lot of this I put down to being exposed to and influenced by a lot of anxiety as well as experiencing a lot of it myself when I was younger. Part of the way I learned to cope with these anxious feelings was to try and create scenarios in my head in an effort to have some element of control, as well as weighing things up for a long time before going into anything even vaguely risky.
One of the most useful bits of insight I’ve gained through reflection on life and the therapy I’ve had is this: we live in an uncertain world and how I cope with that uncertainty has a big effect on how I live my life. Anyone with an interest in existential philosophy might also notice the influence of that in my thinking. Try as I might sometimes, the fact is I’m not a clairvoyant; I don’t really know what will happen in the future. The interesting bit for me is how differently I’ve felt about that fact at various points in my life. In the past, I’ve definitely had a tendency to lean into fear of the unknown and a negative view of the future whereas more recently, I’ve been looking at it with (dare I say is) a hint of excitement or at least a more neutral ‘what happens, happens’ kind of approach.
For those who don’t know, I’ve got a big interest in evolutionary psychology (see this post about ‘tribes’ for example). In a nutshell, I think that a lot of the way humans behave can be linked back how we’ve learned to survive over the millennia we’ve inhabited the planet and I think this has relevance here too. When I was searching for a featured image for this post, this one spoke to me quite strongly and I’ve just realised why: it serves as a perfect example of risk. Let’s say you’re walking and your path brings you to a place where the only way to cross is by jumping from one rock to another. If you miss your footing on the landing or slip, you could fall and maybe break your ankle or even plummet to your death! Do you take the risk?
As the above example might show, not taking risks can often keep you in a safer and more secure place so from that perspective, being risk-averse is often the ‘survival’ option and makes a lot of sense. However, in some cases it can also stifle personal growth. For example, although I didn’t quite realise it at the time, I took a massive risk by applying to work as a musician on cruises. I had very little idea where I was going, who I was going to be working with, where I was living, whether I’d like it etc. If I didn’t take that risk, most likely I would’ve stayed exactly where I was, missing out on the opportunity to visit many new countries, meet new people and further progress as a musician.
The whole concept of taking risks involves stepping outside your comfort zone and for me, outside the boundaries of what I might ‘normally’ do but in many cases, the payoff for an act that takes immense personal courage can be bountiful. So when my mental health is in a decent place and I trust in my ability to cope with whatever the outcome is, I dip my toe in the waters of risk. Some fairly recent risks include talking to new people, admitting I’ve got feelings for someone and taking on new responsibilities.
What consistutes ‘risky’ depends so much on the person who is taking the risk though and I hope that this post hasn’t unintentionally put across the message of ‘go take risks, everybody’ because it’s often not that simple. My ongoing mission is to find out more about what personally feels safe vs. what feels risky and why that might, and maybe to nudge at the boundaries of my comfort zone every so often, just to see what happens.
So it’s reflection time: are you a risk taker or are you risk-averse? Or does it depend what the risk is? Has this changed at different times in your life? Do you wish you took more risks or ‘played it safe’ a bit more often?
Feel free to leave some answers in the comments…but do you take the risk? ;)
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