I don’t believe that fear and risk are the same thing. Why? Because taking risks has delivered my life’s greatest rewards. I have Irrefutable evidence of this that us ot second hand. Due to this, I see risk as an exciting invitation.
It should be noted that I don’t do risky. Never have. If I can’t research or strategize my way through risky, it’s a hard pass.
For instance, when I was considering a protocal that challenged me to cold plunge for five minutes and then add a minute every day till I achieved fifty minutes, I had some concerns for my safety that needed to be addressed for me to proceed.
Even my most inspirational friend, who introduced me to cold plunge, and is the greatest dream horse whisperer that I have ever known said, “I don’t know if that’s safe Eric!”
He was being honest. He didn’t know, and neither did I at the time. He was genuinely concerned for my well being. His mind deduced that what I was considering might be risky.
But isn’t that the key. He admittedly didn’t know. He just thought it might be risky. He was as curious as I was. To this person’s credit, he knew me well enough to know that I would not accept anyone elses’s fears as a factor in my decision to proceed or not. He merely suggested that I research the safety aspect and then reserved his co-spot with my wife as my #1 supporter. Love that guy!
As I did my research, I discovered people who did know? People who had done it before, and then some. Turned out there was plenty of evidence that it was……wait for it…..not risky.
Navy Seals, Wim Hof, oh wait, I just invited your mind to your risky zone, cause you’re now thinking “Eric doesn’t get it. These are truly exceptional people with advanced training!”
Ok, let me use examples that will allow you to keep an open mind. Let’s use two:
How about the thousands of Wim Hof disciples. While Wim Hof himself (look him up) is, let’s say, rather unique. Screw that, he’s a Beast of Exceptional Abilities! So, not me! I am not delusional enough to think I can be him. But, his acolytes look, well, kinda like me! And there are thousands of them!
Oh yeah, and the second example. A lot of people put their faith in doctors. Instead, I rely on a non-doctor who is a health expert in Miami. He is one of the world’s foremost experts on pain, fitness and nutrition. Navy Seals, Professional Athletes and UFC Fighters turn to him for advice and care. He has authored eleven books on health (If you want to verify google Christopher J. Kidawski books). More importantly, he has cured thousands of people of what they were told, by doctors, required surgery to fix or drugs to mask their “incurable” pain. This includes me - twice no less! It is worth noting that Doctors are his biggest critic.
This individual was the one who suggested the cold plunge protocal originally. He even provided me with a published medical paper from an acclaimed doctor who had achieved miraculous results with men my age dealing with visceral fat in their gut. But I still needed more evidence. I didn’t personally know anyone doing cold plunge past fifteen minutes, let alone fifty! I needed to believe that it was safe, which led to my own further research. I say again, I don’t do risky.
The moral to my story is this. There is a mountain of difference between risk and risky. When you feel fear for a goal a loved one is attempting, ask yourself why that is? What irrefutable evidence do you have that certifies their endeavor as risky.
Cause if you feel fear when other people, who are not you, attempt to do unusual shit, then I can only imagine the internal struggle you have when you are thinking about doing something outside your own comfort zone. Actually, I can imagine, cause I have built multiple successful companies helping individuals find the courage to do things they desire.
One of my best friends Akshay Nanavati
is walking across Antartica unassisted for the next three months. When he first told me was going to attempt this, my initial Ego driven thoughts were “that’s risky as fuck, you may die!” But, what I have learned in life, is that taking risks provides the greatest growth and rewards. So, instead of saying this uninformed fear driven thought outloud to him, I instead pledged to become one his biggest supporters - check out his journey at https://fearvana.com/
I have also learned that most people’s default setting is to see almost everything as too risky……..until they see someone pull it off! But even then, they will not make the full journey in their mind to believing it is a worthwhile risk instead of risky, until somebody “not too exceptional” pulls it off! 😎 This is what it is - good old fashioned fear!
When they finally have evidence they believe, this is when others see the achievement and something inside them whispers, “Maybe I can do that too!”
If my 54 year old overweight ass can be that for you, then I see setting a goal of swimming my way to thirty-five laps in the longest pool in America while on a forty day water fast as a worrhwhike risk, not risky.
If you don’t agree, I receive your concerns as a sign of love but I don’t accept them as a reason not to at least try. I embrace hard and am not scared of failure.
P.S. - Did you know it actually took me two attempts to achieve my goal of fifty minutes in a cold plunge? My first attempt failed at day thirty-six, oh so close. I had to start again. Let that sink in! 😎
