Why people don't take the risks

I got some insight, recently, into why people often don't take the risks that would be involved with achieving goals and dreams that they might have for themselves, including going back to school or taking school seriously, again, as a route to success.

A lot of people feel discouraged, I think, by past failures and lack confidence in their ability to get back into the game. I see it in myself, all the time, in areas of my life where I am not as strong as I need to be to accomplish goals I care about. A lot of people stop caring for whatever reasons. Or they lack ambition altogether. But a lot of people just get scared, not knowing if they can follow through what needs to get accomplished to achieve their goals.

One of the things that I love about the original theater group I belong to, here in Lawrence, EMU Theater, is that it is so inclusive, meaning that it is an opportunity for people who may not be as strong in various theater roles to try on various hats in the theater world without feeling like they are going to be pilloried if they are not the greatest actor or writer or director or technical designer. Like school, it gives people a chance to try on different hats. I would like to see us put out David Mamet or mainstream theater or film quality original theater efforts, which we are not doing, at this point. But, in the meantime, it is nice to have a venue where everyone gets a chance to shine, whether they are the strongest participant in that role or not.

Competitive anything is often great because it allows those who are truly great at various activities to shine and for everyone to enjoy the highest quality performance of whatever possible. But it is also nice to have and create opportunities where everyone can try their hand at excelling at things that they may not otherwise excel at. I have so many areas in my life where I have to work hard at things that come easier with more practice and more ability on their part to others. And it is important, when that is the case, for us to have the ability to screw up and learn from our screw ups in environments that are not always looking to have us pack our bags when we suck.

That is the failure of the often highly competitive environments of 21st century liberal democracies. It is not that people need pity or coercion. What people need is the freedom to learn and to screw up that is not always sending them packing when they don't do it better than everyone else the first time or even the 100th time, as long as they are trying (and even, as in my school, often, when they are not always trying so hard).

And when people don't have the room or the freedom to take the risks, they don't have the opportunities for learning that might otherwise allow them to excel, better, at whatever they are doing.

And when people don't have that space, people stop taking the risks. And when they stop taking the risks, they stop learning and growing in more serious and consequential ways.

That is the greatest tragedy of more repressive policies and more repressive socieities: they hold back the potential of their citizens and societies by scaring them away from the risk-taking and learning and growing that is only possible with more freedom and support.

It's one of the more sadly counterproductive features of adult life more than kid life in America and liberal democracies, where the high stakes and everyone's strong reactions to those stakes often undermines the risk-taking and learning that a more supportive culture would have to offer.

I have work I have to get to, right now. Until later.

Love,
Ben