The Risk Is Worth It

Kim and I slow hiked this week through a nature preserve near Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan. It was a gorgeous hike abundant with bear corn, ghost pipe, and a variety of small fungi. One section of the hike was also abundant in poison ivy.

I’ve been pretty risk adverse since I was a kid. I didn’t like to go high on swings or hang upside down or ride my bike fast downhill. I was a cautious child, and in many ways, I am cautious still.

So naturally while I was trapsing through the forest, I zeroed in on spotting poison ivy.

“Look out,” I said. “It’s pretty close to the trail here!”

I said this to no one but myself. Kim was happy in her little world of curiosity and adventure.

And that made me have a realization. Focusing so much on the risk of touching poison ivy was diminishing my joy of present moment. All I could see was the risk. Not the birds. Not the wildflowers. Not the other fabulous flora, fauna, and fungi all around me. The risk made my focus so narrow that I couldn’t see the whole beautiful scene.

I stopped and said to myself, “What if I just assume I’m going to walk through poison ivy and stop looking for it?” I always wash my hands and legs after a hike just in case. So really what was I looking for?

I’m not saying to crash carelessly through every risk that comes our way. But sometimes the only way forward is to walk through it. This is what it feels like to come out or fall in love again after a failed relationship or leave a job that has left us empty. Sometimes the risk is the only way forward. And it takes courage.

Risk is the fear of losing control in disguise. Yet by letting go of my fear of getting poison ivy, I actually gained control. I could see the world around me, instead of focusing on only one small scary thing which turned out not to be much of a threat to begin with.

Sure, I may still break out in a poison ivy rash in a day or two. But was it worth it?

Yes.

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Slow Hiking for a Fast Mind