According to the Mirriam Webster dictionary:
Risk can be defined as “the possibility of loss or injury : peril; someone or something that creates or suggests a hazard, the chance of loss or the perils to the subject matter of an insurance contract; also : the degree of probability of such loss, a person or thing that is a specified hazard to an insurer, an insurance hazard from a specified cause or source war risk, the chance that an investment (such as a stock or commodity) will lose value.”
How can taking risks lead you into potential when the definitions of risk are affiliated with negative connotations?
Let’s examine some people who have become famous as a result of taking risks
Mark Zuckerberg once told a group of young entrepreneurs that it is “Risky not to take chances…..In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
There are stories like these that demonstrate that taking calculated risks can absolutely lead to massive success in life, but there is a difference between calculated risk and misguided or foolish decision.
Let me take you back to a time when I was 26 years old. I had graduated from university and I landed and amazing teaching job right out of the gates. I was teaching in the subjects that I wanted to teach in Physed, history and I was at a great school with great kids. However, I was single, living in my parents basement, and I longed for ADVENTURE and spreading my wings, as all of my other friends were getting married and starting the next chapter in their lives.
I went away for a girls weekend at my alma Mater at Queens University, and my friends all looked at me and said Stacey, you have always wanted to travel the world, why don’t you go and do it, there is nothing holding you back and NOW is the time to take that risk and go for it!
Do you have friends that encourage and support you through decisions such as this?
I came home from that trip totally FIRED UP and ready to travel the world – I went into my dad’s office and said to both my parents, “I am going to quit my job and go travelling to Australia for a year!” Their jaws dropped, and then they asked with whom will you go travelling?? And I answered, BY MYSELF.
Now for some of you, the thought of travelling around the world by yourself is a foolish decision, and one you couldn’t take on your own. For me, it as one of the best decisions I could have ever made and it was a risk that I researched and took.
I did go into my job and ask for a leave of absence in order to secure my job when I returned from the year away in case I want to come back to that safety, but I was still on probation as a brand new teacher and therefore I had to leave my position and carry out on my own.
If you are resourceful and you take advantage of opportunities, you will find the path you are searching for.
Without risk, there is no potential!
When I arrived in Australia on my around the world ticket that led me there via Hong Kong and Singapore, I was tired, smelly, worn out but excited after a long flight. My dad had a friend that he had asked to check on me and help me out as I began my journey, and so he met me at the airport and got me situated. He asked me: “Where do you want to go, what do you want to see and do while you are here?” I responded: “This is a big country from what I understand, and so I will probably spend 6 months or so travelling up the east coast and if possible, I would love to see Ayers Rock and the outback, but I will have to see how far my funds will take me.”
Here is where risk collided with potential.
This kind gentleman, who I had never met before, asked me what I really wanted to see and do while I was there. He offered to book me whatever flights I wanted on Quantas airlines on his travel points so that I could see his country, and I just needed to pay him whatever I felt it was worth. I gave him $1200 and booked 6 flights around the country and set off on my own.
I went and played around in the massive sand dunes on Fraser Island, I saw the sites and the beach life at Surfers Paradise, I took in the Goodwill Games and watched athletes from around the world compete in the same sports I had competed in in university in basketball and track and field.
I then made my way north to Airlie Beach – the gateway to the great barrier reef and scuba diving in the azure blue waters of the pacific. I set sail on a maxi racing yacht for 5 nights (getting seriously anxious about the amount of money I was dropping in the first few weeks of being away) and made the decision to take another risk – to go scuba diving in the world best playground for doing just that – even though I had never dove before.
There is an interesting twist to this part of the story, as I was out diving on the boat, we decided one night to moor the boat in the middle of the ocean and make our way to a small island that had a bar and restaurant on it. We went into the small and lit up room and there were televisions lining the wall. On the TV screens was the image of the twin towers collapsing before my eyes.
This was a pivotal and scary place and I am sure you can all remember where you were on September 11, 2001 – well I was in the middle of the ocean where no one in the world really knew where I was, with a bunch of strangers from all over the world coming together to experience this life changing situation. I watched the replay of the event over and over and over again and I felt that pain, anguish and worry that was now gripping the world. I was also concerned for my brother his family who live in the United States, and of course for everyone at home. This was a time when cell phones were a new thing, I had declared I would never have one, as if people wanted to get a hold of me, they could reach me at home, and email communication occurred in an internet cafe that I booked time on a desktop and paid by the minute to communicate with home.
Without risk there is no potential.
I made if off the boat and back to land, and after the shake up that had occurred in the world, many airlines went under, for me, the energy I had put out into the world as far as risk – created an opportunity and the 6 flights I had booked with Quantas were now worth ever so much more, as the other Australian airline went under. I could have looked at this as a time of luck and that I was travelling with a horseshoe around my neck, but I now realize that it was all based on an openness to the universe providing for me, because I was willing to risk and go for it and to be open to the grave of amazing people and energy in the world.
I traveled all the way up the coast to Daintree and Cape Tribulation, I explored the rain forest and all of its wonder. I travelled via plane to Darwin, all the way in the extreme north of the country where the humidity is so thick that as soon as you get out of the shower you are drenched in sweat again. I travelled and saw the beauty of nature in Kakadu and Litchfield national parks, where I witnessed crocodiles jumping out of a tin boat in the murky waters on the river as the end of their tails were the only remaining piece of their bodies in the water with their vertical explosive leap to grab meat that was dangling over the boat.
I mentioned earlier that I was concerned about my funds, so while I was only in Darwin for 2 weeks, I took my teaching paper work into the state educational department and asked if there was any supply work in the area. They gave me a pen and a paper and said fill this out and we will get you work immediately, as the number of qualified supply teachers in the north was limited. At this point, I had acquired a small call phone and I stayed in a hostel. I would get calls bright and early in the morning to teach, I would ask the front desk attendants what bus to take to get to the school and I went and taught aboriginal children and experienced a whole new culture and understanding of the educational system in another country.
From here, I travelled to Alice Springs in the middle of the country with its red dusty sand and beautiful sunsets over Uluru – or Ayers Rock as the westerners call it. I went on an outback safari and I slept in a swag – a bed roll on the floor of the outback with no tent over my head around a fire. Talk about risk, with the worlds most venomous snakes, spiders, scorpions and more that could have been near us, I decided to do as the locals do and sleep in a swag hoping that the warmth and crackle of the fire would keep away all of the nasty pests!!
Without risk there is no potential.
I went and saw the massive rock that towers over everything else in the desert, and was a bit sad to see what the westerners had done to such a sacred space for the aboriginals, there were sings all over the place asking the tourists to not climb the rock, and yet there were lines of people holding on to posts that had been hammered into the rock, climbing like ants to see the desert stretch for miles. I chose instead to make the 9 km trek around the base of the rock and see the water falls cascading down the red mounds of clay and feel the heat of the desert sun on my back.
Without risk there is no potential.
From here I travelled to the far west of the country, and my friend Ron who had graciously given me my flights around the country, hooked me up with an amazing family who welcomed me into their home. This was a single mom with four kids, who offered me a place to stay – the 13 year old daughter Avril slept in her mom’s bed for 6 weeks for I could have my own room and they made me a part of their family. They didn’t know me, but they offered me everything they could out of the greatness of their hearts. I taught at the kids school, coached basketball and spent my weekends shopping in Perth, exploring the coast, flying a plane with a fellow supply teacher, – yes I said flying a plane, and chilling on a beach in Fremantle or free as the locals like to call it.
Who do you know that you could open your heart and help out especially at this time of the year, simply because you care??
Without risk there is no potential.
From here I travelled to the Melbourne, where I lived in a flat in St. Kilda with two other Canadians I had met along my travels and two Brits who I had never met. We spent the christmas season together, shared our cultural traditions with each other and even ate our christmas day dinner at Mcdonalds, feeing our faces with big macs and fries – who knew when we might ever do that again on a christmas day!
I even managed to make it all the way down to the tiny island of Tasmania with its crystal clear beaches and national parks. Its massive trees in the forests, and steep history of convicts settling the land in ancient times.
I spent my final two and a half months of my time in Australia in Sydney. When I arrived, I just happened to run into a friend from home who was also travelling at the time and I had no idea she was even in the country. She was staying in a beautiful apartment in darling harbour with a Brit, and two Kiwis from New Zealand. I needed a place to stay while I worked and saved up my money for my time in Fiji and New Zealand, so I got bold and asked if they had a couch I could sleep on.
I slept on that pull out couch in an amazing building and I found work teaching after I had sent my resume from Perth by mail and interviewed at the local ministry of education getting hired again with my Canadian teaching licence and papers.
Now keep in mind, I was a female, a foreigner with a funny accent, and a supply teacher and the only jobs I could get were in the rougher western suburbs of Sydney.
Without risk, there is no potential.
I taught in schools with bars on the windows to protect them from being smashed, grass up to my knees on the fields and outside the school and students who really had no interest in listening to this foreign female teacher with a funny accent.
I can remember calling my dad and crying on the phone saying I am the worst teacher in the world and I cannot reach these kids. My dad with all of his wisdom and compassion, said to me: “Stacey, you are a supply teacher making fantastic money, and you probably won’t reach them all, go in and do your best or go and work i a bar or restaurant and make less money and figure it out.”
I went back and honestly, I let the kids throw the balls at each others heads and scream and yell and when I appeared to not care – they suddenly looked up and said, “why isn’t she yelling?” And all of a sudden, they listened!
I was offered a full time job at that school but I respectfully declined
I had met up with an uncle of a friend from home however prior to making my way south and I had stayed at their house for a few days with their family. They had teaching connections at a girls school in a small place called Liverpool. I was hired on as a long term occasional teacher with my own classes – teaching phased and of all things – Australian geography. Talk about taking on a risk and new way of thinking, but I learned along with the students and I made use of the skills I had.
During this time, I had to move out of the apartment I had been staying in, and lo and behold – another chance encounter had taken place. One night when I was walking across the darling harbour bridge, I ran into one of my best friends aunts and my friends mom and dad who had been in Australia for a month and it was literally their last night there. Aunt Gwen had said to me that night – if you need anything at all, just call me and ask.
Well my friend and I needed a place to stay. I called up Aunt Gwen and asked for HELP.
Where in your life could you ask for help? Are you afraid to ask for help?
Without risk there is no potential.
Aunt Gwen was a very well off and compassionate woman. She lived in a 3 million dollar condo right on the beach in the harbour and my friend and I were welcomed with open arms and we were given our own bedrooms and we stated for almost 2 months. I commuted by bus to the fairy terminal at circular quay right across from the Sydney opera house and bridge, then took a train out to the western suburbs where I was picked up in a car to get to the girls school. I travelled 2 1/2 hours each way on public transit to get to my teaching job and I worked and earned money to be able to afford my upcoming two weeks in Fiji and two and a half months in New Zealand.
I was willing to ask for help – I was willing to risk doing something different, I was willing to think outside of the box.
Now while I was on this adventure of a lifetime, i often thought to myself, man I have been so lucky. I really have had a horseshoe around my neck and everywhere I have gone I have been blessed with amazing connections and people.
I now realize that there was no luck involved in my adventure to the land of oz. What had occurred was the opening of the universe and the energy of the people within it. I was open to receive abundance from the world and I was wiling to take the risks in order to find the true potential in my own journey and to encounter those who would help me along the way – all because I asked.
I took a risk and I learned how to FLY.
I tell you this story not to impress you, but to impress upon you that there is so much out there for all of us in the world. The energy that we put out in the world will come back to us with abundance and clarity, but you need to be in tune to that possibility and to be willing to take the risks that will allow you to find that true potential.
Are you willing to take the risks necessary for you to FLY?
I am here to help and guide you on that journey and to share my experiences with you so that you can see that it is possible.
If it is possible in the world – it is possible for you.
Without risk there is no potential.
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