Risk and reward go together. They are different sides of the same coin. You can’t have rewards without risks.
Daring to experience happiness is a risk. You have to hope for it.
Making friends is a risk. You are opening yourself up for potential betrayal and letdown.
Desiring health and fitness is a risk. You will likely have to invest more into it than you thought you were willing.
Having money is a risk. You can waste it or lose it.
Falling in love is a risk. (I bet I don’t have to tell you why.)
Saying anything is a risk. You may be misunderstood or rejected. But you will never be understood if you never say anything.
Living is a risk. You may die any moment.
So as you can see, we all live with terrible risks. Probably more so than you realize. But some risks you are comfortable taking. Some you know you have to take and you don’t resist it. While others stop you on your track, fearful and full of trepidation.
Some risks are not worth taking. The reward may be great on the other side but it may not be important.
But others, you desire the rewards greatly, but you still have a hard time taking the risk. You probably have taken the risk and have gotten hurt. Perhaps you are not finished processing the emotional consequence of that. Another word for that, is trauma.
When you are still carrying feelings from risks going awry, risks will terrify you more. You’ll want to observe which risks you perceive as riskier. You’ll want to examine where the reward means much to you but risks are stopping you. It can point you to where you are still carrying unresolved trauma.
It’s not that higher risk always means higher rewards. But high rewards always come with high risks. And some risks are blown up by your emotional baggage. It’s a tricky thing to discern.
But perhaps knowing this will help. There is no emotional injury from which you can’t recover. You won’t always get it right but you can absolutely always learn. No reward is out of your reach. The only thing preventing you from having it is your willingness to take the risk.
“You are the only thing in your way.” — Cloud Cult
