Risk and Reward: taking stock of life

In the world of capital assets, risk is uncertainty. One holding a risky asset is compensated by the possibility of a higher future return. This is known as the risk-return tradeoff. Those who are more risk averse tend to play it safe. In doing so, they often times forego the opportunity to earn a higher return. Those less risk averse will invest in a risky asset-possibly losing a great deal but also taking advantage of the opportunity to gain a great deal. Uncertainty.

Life is uncertainty. Risk is uncertainty. Life is risk. I guess you can evaluate life in the same manner as you could any asset: look at the uncertainties, assess them, figure out which you can deal with and which you would rather avoid, and then deal with the consequences of your decisions. So then the question is how much risk are you willing to deal with? How much uncertainty can you handle in your future? Are you willing to sacrifice certainty for the possibility of a more exhilarating and rewarding experience? Or are you content with a more quaint lifestyle in which all is known, change is minimal, and surprises are few and far between? While both have pros and cons and people do choose both extremes and some things between on the spectrum, I myself can't make a sound argument for the latter of the two extremes. To me that is not being risk averse, but rather life averse. What chance for growth and improvement is there if you never try to see what would happen if (insert new action/decision/person/experience here)? How would you know that that end result or experience or relationship wouldn't end up being one of the best things that ever happened to you?

Fine. Some people say that the reward may be all good and dandy, but what if you get hurt? Now I'm not saying go do something illegal because it sounds fun. By all means, keep your morals and values about you, but don't not do something because you fear that pain or embarrassment or failure would be the consequence. So what? So what if you fail? Someone is going to point at you and laugh and say "you failed, hahaha?" Screw em. More often than not those are the people who play it safe fearing someone will point the finger and laugh at them. They will never know what it is to truly succeed at something new and adventurous because they are too scared of themselves to even try. Failure is an opportunity to pick yourself up again and do better. There is a learning curve in all endeavors. You know what not to do next time. So I guess the point of this post, though extremely cliché, is that we all live a little. For ourselves and for the hope that there is something more rewarding out there and that we can find it as long as we never stop trying.

Just my thoughts
Radhi