Risk Always Pays Off
Everyone dreams of something and feels an inexplicable pull in an unknown direction—the urge to discover is so strong it returns at least once a week. And yet I’ve met only a handful of people who truly follow that untamed curiosity. Most spend their whole lives merely dreaming. Pocahontas sings about this in Disney’s 1990s animated film.
What I love most about rivers is
You can't step in the same river twice
The water's always changing, always flowing
But people, I guess, can't live like that
We all must pay a price
To be safe, we lose our chance of ever knowing
What's around the riverbend
Waiting just around the riverbend
Pushing into the unknown runs counter to our survival instinct. Quite simply, you’re afraid of what waits around the riverbend. The mind prefers what’s familiar—it provides stability and safety, which are essential for a peaceful life. Routine isn’t just convenient; it makes things predictable. That’s why you subconsciously repeat even harmful childhood patterns—because they’re familiar, “safe,” almost automatic. And yet, when you look back, you don’t remember the days that flowed in the same rhythm; you remember the ones that broke the pattern. Most often, the very happy moments—or the very hard ones. Have you ever talked with an old classmate and reminisced, “Remember how we got up every day, went to school, studied, and ate our sandwiches at break?” No! We’re more likely to say, “Remember how we got lost on the class trip?” or “Remember that exam three quarters of the year failed?”
New experiences allow you to grow. The world is much bigger than your neighborhood. If you sit for years in the same job, in the same position, with the same people, shop at the same store, drive the same car, and watch the same shows every evening, your life will fade. You’ll start suffocating in a gilded cage you built for yourself, imprisoned by unchanging beliefs and prejudices.
It has always been this way […] It's a tradition.
My friend, it is also a tradition that times change.
Akeem, Prince in New York
No matter how much you’d like everything to stay the same, time moves on inexorably—whether you like it or not. If you don’t change with reality, you’ll turn to stone like a statue: motionless, left only with the habit of replaying what you didn’t do.
Staff in care homes often say those places are filled with regret over missed chances and the bitterness of time wasted. In almost every interview with older entrepreneurs, millionaires, or simply happy people, the same idea appears: “Take risks while you can. Say yes to challenges while they arise.” And although they’re seen as bold, many admit they regret above all that they didn’t take enough risks.
I feel it there beyond those trees
Or right behind these waterfalls
Can I ignore that sound of distant drumming?
For a handsome sturdy husband
Who builds handsome sturdy walls
And never dreams that something might be coming
Just around the riverbend
What saves us in this situation are precisely those persistent longings—we can try to dismiss them, but we can’t forget them. It also helps to remember we have only this moment, only one life, and there won’t be a second chance. By choosing safe, risk-free options, you agree never to find out what might have happened if you’d set off in pursuit of adventure. Most of us know perfectly well what we “should do” or what the “safe solution” is—and out of fear we often choose exactly that.
But what if you had nothing to lose and could do anything? It’s an excellent exercise for discovering what you truly want to do with your life. Imagine that neither money nor obligations limit you. What would you do with your life?
I answered that question less than a year ago and concluded I’d be a well-known influencer: I’d record videos for YouTube and TikTok, write blogs, then publish a book, sing, and create in general. A friend then asked me, “OK, sounds great—so what’s stopping you?” After a longer conversation it turned out the main obstacle was me: fear of failure and ridicule, and losing financial stability. I worked through it, and that’s why I’m writing a blog today. I’m not famous yet, but I know what I need to do to get there.
In her song, Pocahontas also sees the safe course she could take—marrying Kocoum, the steady and respected future chief of the village. But she can’t resist the pull of what lies on unknown ground. She asks herself whether she should stop dreaming and settle into a stable life. Deep down she knows that would mean a kind of spiritual death for her.
Should I choose the smoothest course
Steady as the beating drum?
Should I marry Kocoum?
Is all my dreaming at an end?
Or do you still wait for me, dream giver
Just around the riverbend?
And you—do you “kill” your soul each day by choosing the easy and the safe? Did you know you can “die while still alive”? I’ve met people who, in private conversations, told me: “I feel dead inside—nothing makes me happy anymore; I don’t care what happens.” I remember that in the darkest period of my life—when it seemed I had everything—I felt so profoundly unhappy and empty that I thought death would end the pain. Fortunately, my despair ended—my life did not. That happened because I started following my heart: I stopped merely dreaming and began to act on my instincts, risking what was familiar and safe.
Organize your life.
The first publication in the Untold product series, created to share methodology for organizing everyday life, cultivating systematic discipline, and developing proper habits. Drawing from the author's experience, knowledge, beliefs, and commonly available coaching tools, she aims to inspire you to take action and present you with a straightforward approach to achieving fulfillment and building self-esteem. Written in a simple way, it contains examples from everyday life, practical tips, exercises, and beautiful graphics. Available in e-book and audiobook.
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