There's a saying I'm fond of that goes "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." I've realized that so many of my most meaningful experiences have resulted from taking significant risk.
So, as we're here ringing in a new year, I don't want to know what resolutions you're going to make (and break) I want to know what risks you're going to take.
Most learning happens outside of it, I'm convinced of that.
Hell, I must go to outer space since my comfort zone is the whole planet politically romantically as a Cherokee open to the entire human race of women
Facing my debt and opening my heart to love. Both are scary for different reasons.
That's 2 of us 2 a T
I am vowing not to let myself get distracted by other people's drama, so I can concentrate on pursuing my own success. I plan to use the extra time and energy half and half, putting my dreams into action and being lazy enough to enjoy the sweetness of life.
I'll likely ace the being lazy part, but will be challenged by my goal of actually putting my dream (of publishing a book) into action. I've put it off for so many years, mostly because of being dragged into drama by other people, so had no energy left to put toward my dream.
Being solitary this year should give me no distractions keeping me from actually submitting my manuscript for publication and the likely editing that will be required before making it a reality. That is the scariest thing - fear my dream I've been holding onto for so long might not be the success I have hoped it would be for so long. It's been safer to hold on the the dream, than put it out there for the world to either embrace or reject.
I have heard that somewhere (a lot from my late partner) and looking back on my life I see that I have followed this, unwittingly. I constantly ask myself why did I do such and such but look where it got me. Problem is that as one reaches higher and higher stages in life one becomes accustomed to their creature comforts.
I'm going to risk publishing one of my games that I'm working on for Android. I know that sounds like a sort of non-risk, or a backhanded risk, but the fact of the matter is that it's a nerve-wracking process for me, to open myself up to criticism from the literal world.
My hope is that doing so might allow me to risk even more: quitting my job and becoming a game developer full time. I probably won't be able to do that though, because the success rate for such things is tiny. So given that I can't really risk that without some sort of guarantee (which defeats the purpose of a risk a bit), I'll be risking something moving to D.C. My primary got accepted to law school there, so we have to make that move at some point anyway, but moving always makes me crazy nervous.
Yes, opening oneself up to possible rejection can be a big risk indeed. But it can also come with great reward, as I'm sure you're well aware! Best of luck with your new year endeavors!
I need to loose 3 stone ( 42 pounds ) for the sake of my climbing grade (5 nudging 6 ) and my health.
So that's my resolution. Will I break it? Probably. But success and failure are binary and failure is so much more likely when the target is hard to achieve. And failure can crush you with the result that you give up.
So, I will award myself points for every pound reduction I achieve within a certain time frame. I will also award myself points for different sorts of exercise. Especially aerobic activities.
The risk in all this is that I may have to meet new people. Not my favorite pastime recently.
Now where is that leftover trifle ...
Good luck.
I applaud your determination. Maybe, just maybe, you'll meet some along the way that inspire you on your journey.
My life has so far been a succession of risks. I shall continue as I started.
Each time I have been forced to struggle I have also felt truly "alive" and "experiential". Today I shall risk the wrath of my wife by leaving the toilet seat up. ??
A potentially wrathful risk to be sure!
I take as little risks as possible and I make no New Years resolutions. I will not bungee jump!
Nor will I. The idea gives me the willies
I'm a hopeless adrenaline junkie... I've bungee jumped, sky dived, zip lined, scuba dived. All things that have helped me learn to face the much greater fears that are inherent throughout life.
@Amzungu2 I would zip line.
I shall risk AGAIN my broken heart to find my Yoko so we can sing my John Lennon songs to the world
@MissKathleen AZ is so FAR AWAY Carole King song
@MissKathleen she&Carly Simon kept me human during my genocidal Vietnam War 1972 1971 1973
I hope you find your Yoko my friend.
@MissKathleen I enlisted in the Navy to humanize the war from inside my personnel office. ...my draft # was 269 they took grunts into the Army &AF 96 my year. ...yes we stopped the war fragging gungho LTs & squad leaders eager to shoot gook kids. ..hippies in the streets loved us when we came home but cities did refuse us uniformed parades that would only attract protestors
@MissKathleen MOHAMMED ALI famously said:" nobody in Vietnam ever called me nigger"
@MissKathleen Professor George Hopkins College of Charleston teaches the coffee house history outside most military bases to humanize uniformed servicemembers....my friend in Iowa spent WW2 in prison refusing the draft organized pacifists globally from Mount Vernon Palisades Kepler State Park 1960's til the day he died 1997