RISK IS THE NEW SAFETY

A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for – John A. Shedd.

Risk is not the word anyone wants to hear. A lot of us are averse to risk because it is scary, uncertain and unpredictable. I often hear friends say, “Play it safe.” Though an advice well intentioned it wouldn’t help in anyway if I were to fulfil my potential.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.” – Helen Keller

When you stay too long at the shore, you never discover new horizons. Andre Gide said it better when he noted: “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” I have found that taking risk opens us up to new ideas, skills, opportunities and experiences. Risk helps us to develop our strengths and talents. Risk allows us to grow and discover new things about the world and ourselves, which we never would if we have stayed where we were and not dared to venture out.

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

One of the major reasons why people fail to actualise their dreams or achieve their goals is their inability to take risks because of the fear of failure. They fear they would be criticised or rejected if they fail. Fear incapacitates. Most people do not achieve a fraction of what they are capable of achieving because they are afraid to try and they are afraid they will fail. Those, who achieve the extraordinary, look beyond their fears, and pursue their dreams, they see failure as outcomes or results, not as failure.

Ancient Greek historian and author, Thucydides, once remarked that “the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.”

French author, adventurer and statesman, Andre Malraux, also observed that: “Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not that one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.”

Mark Twain, the great American novelist, knew about the importance of taking risk when he said, “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Any wonder God twice told Joshua to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6, 9)? I believe you don't possess the promise without it.

To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds, is to risk failure. Focused on possibility and not failure. Focus on the vision, the goal and its rewards. Focus on the promise that God has given you. For faithful is He who promised and he also will do it. Only be strong and courageous.

Stay empowered, and elevated. Cheers!