Chapter Three: There's No Safety Net. Do You Jump?

Hey all. After my last post, about careers and happiness, I was thinking about what I've said about how being a dental hygienist is my "safety net." It is, but it made me wonder, if there was no safety net, would I still jump?

When we're about to do something, isn't it extremely reassuring when we have something to fall back on? If we know that there's no turning back, we're more reluctant to make our decisions. We always seem to be second guess ourselves. Is this right? What will happen if I make a wrong choice? What if I fall on my face? How will I manage to pick myself back up?

My perspective on things, is that if we never take risks, we'll never know what could have been. If we play it safe our entire life, we'll never know what lies beyond our little bubble. Now, now, I don't mean go all psycho and don't go and do anything illegal. I'm talking about opportunities that we will look back on and wonder, "What if I did that? How much would that have impacted my life?" We'll always have those, some good, some bad, but what about those choices, the ones where we really have nothing to lose?

For example, if you've been with me for a while, you'll know that I had started my own business back in April of last year. While I am not continuing with it, I have joined my sibling who also took the class in hers which is flourishing greatly. But the thing is, I joined one day before it was kind of all said and done. I was so stressed and had a nervous breakdown. I mean, within hours, I was jumping aboard this speeding train. But my parents gave it to me straight: What do I have to lose? And the same with going back to public school. I wasn't doing extremely well being home-schooled. It works for some people and for others like me, it just doesn't work. But if that wasn't working, what would? What did I have to lose with going back to school. Could it really be any worse than what was happening with homeschooling?

Those were all questions that we had to consider. But unlike starting a business in a class, I didn't have anything to fall back on for going back to school. My mom informed me that if I chose to go back to school, I was staying there until I graduated. No going back. And it was more than a fair choice, because it would have simply been stressful to go back and forth from being homeschooled to being in public school. I believe that going back to school has changed for mostly for the good. Mostly. Probably 70 percent for the good and 30 percent for the bad, I'll be honest. But looking at the big picture, I honestly believe it was a right decision.

Another thing is, we all have to fall on our face sometimes. Some will hurt or be harder than others. But if our parents try to save us from that all our life, when we can't rely on them as our safety net, we won't know how to get back up. Yes, it will hurt, but I promise you, it will make you better.

The next time you get some form of opportunity of some sort, think about what you really have to lose. Because even though we may not always have our "safety net" (meaning our parents or something to fall back on) we'll always have God to help us back up or teach us how to fly on our own.

Tell me what you think in the comments. Are a risk taker or a play-it-safe kind of person?