When I was in grade school, I went over to a class mate’s home one day after school. Her father was a doctor so they lived in a big fancy home. I was intrigued by a laundry chute they had on the 3rd story and my friend dared me to go in it. Being adventurous, I accepted the dare and rode the chute down to wherever it landed. It would have been a nice ride were it not for the pointy tips of the screws sticking out. OUCH! It could have been a lot worse.
Later in high school, I was again dared to climb to the top of a steel bridge in our town. I’m talking about a bridge with high towers used by hundreds of cars daily and it was in the dead of winter. So we’re talking about cold and icy conditions . . . and there was alcohol involved. Again, I accepted the dare and climbed to the top of the bridge.
It was some time afterward that I realized how dangerous – and stupid – this was. Dead of winter; just one slip and I could have been dead!
With time, I also realized that when you’re younger, you’ll take chances with stuff you’d never think twice about doing as an adult. That sense of adventure and curiosity seem to be firing on all 8 cylinders, and somewhere along the way, as we get older, we develop a different view of risk assessment.
But is that a good thing? Are humans not supposed to be adventurous and take risks, even as we get older?
Some of that has followed me into the private sector and the business world. I do take certain calculated risks to grow my business or to further advance the cause of victims. You have to just to keep things running. But in other areas I am absolutely fearless. When it comes to doing presentations, be them one-on-one or before a large group, I charge ahead. When it comes to solicit donations from small companies or fortune 500 companies; I charge ahead.
So luckily, that sense of adventure and risk taking has not abandoned me completely. I was reminded recently by a friend of mine about the time I took him along for a one-on-one presentation before then L.A. City Councilman, Bernard Parks. Parks was formerly Chief of Police for Los Angeles. Anyway, I was pitching my victim’s emergency bag program and he was kind enough to grant me 45 minutes of his time. When we left his office, my friend told me how poised and polished and confident I was throughout the entire presentation. He was impressed.
I still tell people, don’t dare me to do something because I just may do it. I think most humans will really surprise themselves when they try something new and take it to the next level. It’s exciting because it’s uncharted waters and all of a sudden you find untapped energies and focus you had no idea existed.
Go ahead; try something new, I double dare you.
Peace & Love. PW
