Risk & Living

“Without risk, I wonder if we can ever experience growth.” – Joanna Gaines

These words and issue 15 of the Magnolia Journal got me thinking about risk. We experience risk every day. We cannot escape life without risk.

Living every day is risky. We choose to believe there is good in the world even when the world can hurt us, that’s risk. We choose to love and that is risk.

But without risk are we really living?

I am also a huge fan of Grey’s Anatomy (okay maybe I’m telling too many of my secrets here). On the death bed of one of the patients not wanting a risky surgery that could save him, one of the doctors said “It’s good to be scared it means you still have something to lose.”

Have you ever thought of that, if you don’t have anything to lose than you’re not risking anything?

When we risk something, it feels scary because we have something to lose. But we also have something to lose if we don’t risk. We risk missing out. Missing out on what could possibly be the greatest adventure of life. Missing out on the incredible feeling of being loved. Missing out on moments that could be life changing. Or missing out on the very thing that might just help you keep going.

In the big and in the small ways we risk. But maybe that is the very thing that keeps us alive and living.

I am not just talking about the extreme risks like jumping out of an airplane (although that is risky too and could be an amazing experience) I am also talking about small risks. The risk of trying a new coffee at Starbucks, because you’re living on the edge and expanding your palate because you want to. The risk of trying a new recipe and hating it, but it might be just the meal that becomes a family favorite, one where everyone comes to the table for. The risk of capturing life as it is, imperfect and yet beautiful for being real and celebrating the God given life we get to live. The risk of creating what you’ve always wanted to, the risk of trying out your vision of what life looks like even when no one else sees it with you because you are honoring yourself.

And maybe, just maybe, it is not about the outcome but the chance to try and feel alive. What that thing that you risked gave back to you in the process. That’s brave. That’s courageous. That’s life. That’s you.

Like the risk of failure, like the risk of being wrong. But if we never try, we will never know.

Until Next Time Friend!

Allie