Chapter 5
TAKE RISKS SEEK ADVENTURE
I had a friend who was going through a personal transformation and taking sessions with a professional therapist. She passed on to me many good messages and guidelines to live by, but one in particular I found very powerful:
"Awareness plus Risk equals Growth."
Now there’s a formula for an exciting life! So I took new risks. I joined groups, took courses, and started to downhill ski, whitewater canoe and backpack. It was difficult for me to start into new things, but I took the risks. All this when I was over 60, when most over 60s were taking it easy, slowing down and looking forward to traditional retirement. And it brought new joy and energy to my life. At the same time I had to learn to distinguish between a considered risk and a foolish gamble. Now when people say to me the wellintentioned blessing “Take care" I respond with "Take risks!"
My son Bob was living on the West coast and called one day to see if I would go backpacking with him in the Rockies. He said to pack no more than 14 pounds of clothes and equipment. Again, I was no young chicken, and the thought of packing this weight up and down mountain trails gave me second thoughts. Was I in good enough condition? Would my heart stand it? Well, I decided to take the risk.
When I arrived in Field, B.C. to start the trip, I took a taxi to the base campsite. I didn’t want to carry that 14 pound pack any further than necessary. Then I met Bob and he gave me 14 pounds more as my shareof the food for the 8 days! The first day I counted my heart beats and when they got to my planned limit, we rested. The next day we took a leisurely day trip with no more pack than lunch. After that I was away and climbed the trails with confidence and forgot about my heart beats. Through that experience, Bob taught me that I could do more than I thought I could. What an important lesson that was. It reinforced my new life guideline:
"Awareness plus Risk equals Growth." Seek the adventure, take the risk. Life to be meaningful must include growth.
During this process of seeking new adventures, I frequently asked myself “Why are you doing this thing?” But with few exceptions they turned out to be good new adventures.
After that mountain trip with Bob, I took another risk and signed up for an 8-day canoe trip in northern Quebec, and it had been many years since I had done any extensive canoeing. On the first day I deferred to a younger man when we had to decide who was to stern the boat. But after a mile of rough water in the open lake, I suggested we touch shore and change places, as we were getting well behind the others in the group. We switched positions, and then I rediscovered my old skills and we caught up to the group and at the far shore, we were in the lead. I was discovering that age was not really a factor, but experience, skill and self-worth were what counted. I had taken risks in going on the canoe trip in the first place at my age, among the quite young adults. After crossing the windy lake, I never looked back, and felt an equal among the other canoeists; and they related to me in the same way. It gave me the confidence that I could do more than Ipreviously thought I could.
Before I had adopted the formula of awareness, risk and growth, there were other things I had wanted to do but was too timid to try. So I took the risks and life took on new meaning.