Your Life Is Not Safe
What will you do with the one life you have been given?
“Hey! Is it deep enough to jump from here?”
My wife Susanna and I recently enjoyed a much-needed vacation in the San Diego area. We were on an ocean kayaking tour of the caves near La Jolla, California. As we waited our turn to paddle inside the caves, a young kid asked this question about 50 feet above us.
Except for flying down a mountain on a road bike at 50 miles per hour about 15 years ago, I’m generally risk averse. Especially since having brain surgery.1
So I shout back to the kid,
“Man, I wouldn’t do it! There is stuff under the water you can’t see. It’s more shallow than you think!”
Two minutes later, we hear a big splash as the kid successfully jumps into the Pacific Ocean—no fear or hesitation. Earlier, I had struggled with low-level anxiety in keeping our two-person kayak pointed in the right direction as our guide paddled us from the beach into the ocean in front of us (these guides are living the life2).
I also remembered recent stories of shark attacks and wondered what was swimming in the water underneath our boat. Then there’s this kid with zero fear of jumping into the water from high above and no worries about what could have happened.
Where does fear come from?
Is it learned? I want my life to be safe and predictable. I don’t want any hardships — I want those I love to be OK and to live long lives without pain or suffering. I don’t want to run out of money. The bottom line, I want a safe life. Don’t we all?
Author Mark Batterson reminds us that
”Most of us spend our lives running away from what we fear. We forfeit our dreams on the altar of fear.”
I have personally wasted too many years and burned too many brain cells worrying about what MIGHT happen instead of thinking about the life I could create.
Here are some hard truths:
Just like the old soap opera title, we have only one life to live.
We get to choose how to spend our days - either doing things that matter or anesthetizing ourselves through our drug of choice.3
None of us makes it out alive.
There's something invigorating about feeling the fear and still doing that thing anyway. That’s why I loved riding bikes so fast.
But back to you. What is one thing you could do today to stop playing it safe and instead live the life you were meant to live? What is one step you could take this week to start living your dream?
Is it getting up one hour earlier to journal, take a gratitude walk, read a book, or listen to a podcast—anything to enlarge your thinking beyond the small, safe world you’ve built for yourself? I know these things sound simple, but developing small habits like this, when performed over time, will change your life.
Remember,
Life isn’t safe
You’re not too old
It’s never too late
If you need ideas, please reach out to me! Let’s make this week count!
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Climbing the corporate ladder, alcohol, Netflix binging, fantasy football, materialism… I’ve tried a bunch of ‘em, and they haven’t worked for me!
Great reminders. My thinking recently has taken this direction as well. What would it look like to be more fierce and courageous? What am I missing out on by not stepping out in even more boldness and faith? And remembering my own testimony and celebrations of those times I have stepped up and out and the feelings I had afterwards and the rewards it brought.
Thanks for this, Tarek. It seems the universe is speaking to me about courage this week. Everywhere I turn - whether it is editing a guest post for my Substack, listening to a podcast about introverts who are stretching to be more social, to this lovely story about a kid simply jumping into the unknown - everything is telling me I need to stretch beyond my comfort zone. Maybe a fuller, bigger life begins with a willingness to be uncomfortable.