Why Risk is Worth It

September 2016

I really enjoy taking risks. It's just part of the blueprint I was born with. I am also a natural rebel. This means that I hate rules of any kind. Show me a rule of any type and I will want to smash it up and break it. On principle. As you can well imagine, this has gotten me into trouble at various times throughout my life.

I guess part of the reason that I like risk is because I am so familiar with it. I have spent my working life as an artist, in my case as an actor. Step out onto a stage, and no matter how many times before one has said those lines, almost anything can (and sometimes does) happen. As an actor, one is taught to embrace and welcome risk. The moment actors stop taking risks, is the moment that the performance becomes dull, listless and tired. So I suppose it is that risk to me, is the spice of life: some level of it is necessary in order to live a rich and colourful life. Think how boring and dull life would be, without it.

I think this is why I often have a problem with Health and Safety (H&S which I call Hell and Samey) which seems to want to eradicate risk from our lives altogether. You only have to say the words 'H&S' out loud to me, and I feel an instant rush of blood to my face and neck. My hackles are on 'alert' mode.

This seems to happen to me fairly often these days as I live in a care home, which is by definition, a very risk-averse and highly regulated environment.  There is a plethora of regulations and legislation that the home must comply with. That need not, however, necessarily include me. I must remember that I live with some people here who unfortunately cannot make decisions in their own best interest any longer. It is these vulnerable people that the rules and regulations are there to protect. Not me.

To give them their due, The management have always been sensitive to the fact that I am an intelligent woman with full capacity, who is strong-willed and has opinions of her own. Signing disclaimers, in order to protect the company, has become a way of life.

Around 5 years ago I jumped out of an aeroplane at 15,000 feet. This was in order to raise money for the Centre. It proved to be quite a worthwhile stunt, as I managed to raise several thousand pounds. Would I do it again? You betcha! I only wish I was able to jump out in my wheelchair. What a great photo that would make!  Not to mention some great publicity for the Centre. Especially now that I am a middle-aged woman in poor health and in a wheelchair: life has become  far too sedate and 'safe'. It needs messing up a bit.

There is usually a nugget of truth in an old axiom."Nothing ventured, nothing gained", is an old saying that this applies to. For if you make an attempt, you risk failure. However, if you do not even try then you will never know the untold riches that you may have won.

I know which I would prefer.