Is it just me, or does the world seem more fixated with safety these days and protecting us all from harm?
I remember an adventure holiday in France quite a few years ago, I was on a mountain bike trail when we came across a sign that said, “Descent Dangerous” and were faced with a steep rocky path. It was tough to navigate and braking too hard at one point, I came over my handlebars and landed in a heap on the ground.
Should I have taken a safer route or stayed on flatter path or was this one of life’s adventures with fun to be had but also lessons to be learnt?
A common parting comment from friends is “Stay safe” but from what?
And what if pursuing safety and feeling safe is in fact dangerous because it encourages complacency, discourages curiosity and adventure, and prevents us from exploration and discovery of new places, people and ideas.
I am truly grateful to have enjoyed tremendous freedom growing up – to climb trees, jump off swings, disappear on my bike, walk to school, roller skate and more – without a parent hovering over to ensure total safety.
How do you learn self-reliance, build confidence, discover your passion, develop resilience and get to know yourself and understand the world around you, if you do not explore and adventure?
Staying safe limits us to what is known and controlled, keeping all of us monitored and surveilled in case we or others get lost or step out of line.
Freedom on the other hand, allows us to leave our comfort zone and embrace the unknown, to be open to new experiences, different cultures and people with alternative viewpoints.
In pursuing freedom, we do not ignore danger but learn to navigate it rather than avoid it and so develop the ability to handle the unexpected.
And so, let us continue to embrace adventures, to explore and discover something new each and every day and when something unexpected happens to be ready to make our own decisions, because that’s what we’ve been doing all along.
“The dangers in life are infinite and among them is safety.“
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe –
