This week's chapter was all about taking a risk. Since I am not someone who likes to take risks just the name of the chapter made me nervous. I did have two experiences with risk recently that I would like to share. Last week we were on a trip and thought it would be great fun to charter a boat with a captain to go fishing. This was one of my husband's dreams and so we did it. The boat was large, the captain experienced and the mate great. What we didn't know as we went through the calm channel was that we were in for the ride of our lives. The water went from smooth to choppy to five to seven foot waves within minutes. At one point I was thrown down in the cabin and my husband who was sitting outside looking at just a wall of water was captive in his seat. We both love water and the ocean but we decided for us this just wasn't the trip we had looked forward to and so headed back to shore and didn't take the risk that the day was offering. I was OK with not taking this risk. I think, for me at least, I have to weigh how important the risk is before I will take it.
On the other had, I did take a risk today that I feel good about. Several years ago I began to really focus on my health. I began walking three to six miles a day and also began to seriously study yoga. After a great walk one day my knee began to bother me. The pain got increasingly worse and one day it was so bad that I literally crawled up the stairs to get to my bedroom. The doctor diagnosed it as arthritis and I went through some therapy and things got better after about a year. I added weight lifting to my workout routine continued the yoga but could not get back to walking. I really wanted to walk daily again (not that I love it but I know it is good for me) but I could not get back into the routine. So after reading this chapter I asked myself "What am I afraid of?" and I realized after some quiet moments I was afraid of the pain returning if I did begin to walk on a daily basis. So today I decided this was definitely a risk worth taking and added a walk to my exercise routing. I don't have to walk six miles but I do have to add taking a walk to my routine. So for me reading the chapter has been good. I realize that I don't have to take every risk that comes along but if there is a risk that will actually benefit me I need to step back, analyze my fears, and do what I know in my heart is best for me.
On the other had, I did take a risk today that I feel good about. Several years ago I began to really focus on my health. I began walking three to six miles a day and also began to seriously study yoga. After a great walk one day my knee began to bother me. The pain got increasingly worse and one day it was so bad that I literally crawled up the stairs to get to my bedroom. The doctor diagnosed it as arthritis and I went through some therapy and things got better after about a year. I added weight lifting to my workout routine continued the yoga but could not get back to walking. I really wanted to walk daily again (not that I love it but I know it is good for me) but I could not get back into the routine. So after reading this chapter I asked myself "What am I afraid of?" and I realized after some quiet moments I was afraid of the pain returning if I did begin to walk on a daily basis. So today I decided this was definitely a risk worth taking and added a walk to my exercise routing. I don't have to walk six miles but I do have to add taking a walk to my routine. So for me reading the chapter has been good. I realize that I don't have to take every risk that comes along but if there is a risk that will actually benefit me I need to step back, analyze my fears, and do what I know in my heart is best for me.
RSS Feed
