katfireblade

So, in this life there are two types of risk. One is driven by desperation, you take these because you're running from something. Maybe a bungee jumper is running from stagnation in his life, or the spouse who cheats on their mate is running from the pain in a souring relationship, or the extreme hiker from the press and stress of civilization. There's lots of reasons we run, do stupid things, and we can usually trace them back to a stimuli that isnt so pleasent, that we would do anything to shift away from.

The other type of risk is for the sheer, adrenaline pumping pleasure of the risk itself, just knowing you're alive. Its the insane man driving too fast up windy roads for the sheer pleasure of driving, or the barrel roll pulled in midair by an over-excited piolot, or the mountain climber hanging only by bare finger to the side of a cliff in a free climb. A safer version we can all relate to if the ever-so-brief rush of a roller coaster.

Sometimes we discover these thrills by the stimuli mentioned above, like the extreme hiker attempting to run from stress, only to find he likes the sport itself, and thereafter isnt running from a stimuli, but to one. Sometimes an unpleasent stimuli does make us do things we ultimately consider pleasent and rtewarding, long after the nasty stimuli is removed, and that ultimately counts as the second kind of risk. If you remove the stimuli and shortly thereafter the risk you have taken you cease to take, then its ultimately the first kind, even if you do it a time or three afterwords.

And I thought of myself, of the people I know and have known, and using these definitions, thought about those who were risk takers, and those who were and would probably always be people who only responded to stimuli. Of people who wanted to believe they were risk takers, but would buckle under if told to stop almost every time without fail, and people who were just suicidal, taking risks they never should and wouldnt listen to reason even when shoved down their throats. Anything can be taken to a bad extreme.

And I had to stop and wonder, think back, on the last risk I had taken because of stimuli as opposed to the risks I take for the sheer thrill of the risk itself. Both happened not too long ago, something I was kind of proud of, but still, could be prouder of as well. I realized I could do better.

What about you? When was the last time you took these two kinds of risks? When was the last time you jumped because if you didnt, the ground beneath your feet would shift or give way, as opposed to the last time you jumped just for the sheer thrill of feeling yourself fly and the uncertainty of not knowing where you would land? And loving every minute of it?

Safety is over-rated.