Vitamin R

I once attended a conference where Professor Heinz Wolff was the guest speaker. In his speech he spoke for a while on an important human requirement, Vitamin R. The R was for risk. He talked about how risk was in our make up and that as countries veered more towards becoming nanny states ironically individuals would increasingly start to seek out risk.

Similarly, I watched a tv programme once that talked about thrill-seekers and once again they discussed how people from all walks of life seek out risk. The were many forms of risk taking such as crime, drugs, sex, gambling, extreme sports and the like. It seemed the choice of fix was largely down to economic circumstances.

I guess risk is not something I've been adverse to and is probably why I have 12 screws, 2 metal rods and a rib graft holding my spine together. I cannot deny that I have had my share of thrill-seeking in its various guises over the years but risk and parenthood or self-employment do not make good bedfellows. Maybe part of my quest for a life less ordinary is an attempt to fill the void left by my resignation from thrill-seeking.

This is not uncommon. Whilst there are without doubt high-risk activities, how many actually want risk? Thrills and risk do not necessarily go hand in hand. I mean how many people would do a bungee jump if they thought there was a good chance that the rope would break? How many would jump out of a plane if they weren't pretty convinced the parachute was going to open?

I guess we like the thrill the idea of risk takes, but don't actually want the consequences of the risk being realised. Hence the growth in off-the-shelf 'extreme' experiences. That's not to say there are not risks associated with these experiences, and there have been deaths, but how many of these businesses would be able to operate if the Health and Safety Executive or insurance companies considered them a disproportionately high risk.

So what's this got do with my journey. A point my friend and I concluded over a pint last night, several actually, was that a life less ordinary does not have to be 'extreme'. Less ordinary is just that, it's not the  usual or norm. This can be viewed on various levels. Firstly, and perhaps a good place to start, is with things that I wouldn't normally do or perhaps say yes to. Conquer this and maybe I'll aspire to the dizzy heights of doing things other people would not normally do.

Disclaimer: There are some things in life that people do not do for good reason e.g. kill people, sleep with a hooker and the likes. For obvious reasons I will try to avoid these.