Each journey has a risk

When we are contemplating whether or not to pursue something as adults, many things run through our minds:

• Can we accomplish the task?
• Will it be too difficult?
• Is it worth my efforts?
• How much time will it require?
• Is it worth the risk?

When we were babies, how many times do you think we fell, before being able to walk?

When we were trying to talk, how many “goos” did we give it, before we uttered our first clear words?

When we first started trying to read, how choppy and illiterate were our sentences before reading our first congruent line.

For those of you that might be thinking to yourself right now, “Yeh, but those times were different; there weren’t any expectations or pressures on us.”

Are you kidding?

You don’t think your parents and family were urging you constantly to take those first steps, holding your little finger with one hand, while you waddled all around with those wobbly little legs.

You don’t think they were coaching you every day trying to get you to say “momma” and “dadda”, sounding like myna birds.

When it came time to reading, do you think they were reading to you for their health? No it was so you would learn how to read.

There were very high expectations for you to learn to do these things and constant pressure to do so.

The difference was the perception.

As a small child or baby, there were no perceived beliefs about failures and how that could stifle you if you didn’t accomplish the goal. There were no thoughts about the disappointment you would bring to yourself or others if you didn’t succeed.

There was just pure unadulterated effort no matter what the cost.

How many of us had or still have scars from all the times we fell down and busted our heads from trying to learn how to walk.

The scars and bruises are part of learning process.

Such is life. The scars and bruises we will endure are a part of life and help us to get where we need to go and do what we want to do. They shape and mold our “walk” and journey.

If we never got back up after falling, while learning how to walk, we would have continued to crawl.

So the question I have for us all is – how much greater things have we been able to accomplish by taking the risk and learning how to walk vs. if we had continued to crawl?

 

Would like to hear your comments and what you’ve been able to accomplish by taking the risks.