comfort zone nothing grows

“Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting?”  ― Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds

The statement “There is safety in danger” sounds wrong but there is great truth in it: The greatest risk of all in life is to run no risk at all. Moving forward into the unknown, abandoning old ways for new, change is inherently risky but if you are not growing, you are dying. As any sailor knows, you need forward movement to steer the boat: life demands risk. Excessive caution paralyzes progress; if safety were the only goal, the speed limit on the interstate would be 25 mph!

A 25 mph interstate speed limit is laughable but surprisingly we often accept similarly ridiculous limitations in other areas of life in a flawed attempt to totally eliminate risk, not realizing that we are simply substituting risk, embracing slow moving death by stagnation instead.

Life live joyously, take the basic precautions, observe the low hanging fruit for sure (I wear a safety belt religiously, always wear a life vest on the water, and in my motorcycle days wore a full coverage helmet and leather shoes. But I do all those things too!). Live the life you want to life, live it in the safest way reasonably possible but LIVE It FULLY.

Closing Quotes:

“Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence and the downward spiral begins.” – Charles Stanley, b. 1932

“Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation… even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci, 1452- 1519, 6′ 4″ (1.94m)

“I don’t believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.” – T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, ‘The Waste Land’

As always, I share what I most want/need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier