‘Zonking Out’ and Your Risk Drive

The world we live in today is extremely exciting.

 

It has more opportunities than ever for trying unique experiences.

 

We now have nearly endless forms of self-expression.

 

We can now travel around the world, witnessing distant cultures, and enjoy foods even our grandparents never got to taste.

 

We can jet ski across the ocean, sail our own ships, ski down beautiful mountains, jump out of airplanes, and crash through rapids white-water rafting.

 

We can even escape earth entirely for a few minutes by taking a trip into space. (Brought to you by Virgin Galactic)

 

I could go on and on about all the possibilities that are out there. My point is simple. The world is full of crazy experiences!

 

How many have you taken advantage of?

 

If you’re like a lot of us, (me included!) the answer is relatively small. All those opportunities are waiting for us but we’ve never taken advantage of them!

 

I have a theory.

 

I think a major reason is the machine you have in between your ears. That bundle of neurons was built to help you survive.

 

Focusing on survival kept our ancestors busy for thousands of years…. but what does it mean for us today? At least where I live in the first world, survival isn’t something I spend too much time worrying about.

 

I think it means that a lot of opportunities available to us will be completely ignored. Once our brain solves the survival problem (easily achieved working a 40 hour job pretty much anywhere) it goes into energy saving mode. By default, it’s built to not waste too much energy on much else after we’re warm, happy, and well fed.

 

This ‘default’ state (I think) appears when we spend our days watching TV or mindlessly surfing the web. Once we’ve filled our basic needs, we’re content to just zonk out and relax.

 

So how does all this relate to risk taking?

 

Strictly speaking, your brain isn’t looking to take risks. Your brain, by default, just wants to survive and solve problem related to survival. Once you’ve got survival all worked out, perhaps the last thing your brain wants to do is go risk dying by doing something that feels threatening or dangerous!

 

This is important because I believe that doing things that frighten you can lead to conquering fear in other aspects of your life. Realizing that something that terrified you wasn’t actually that dangerous can spill over, making you question your fears related to other, more daily aspects of your life.

 

There are a nearly unlimited number of experiences available to you. Each one of them can teach you something valuable. Each one is, on it’s own, a unique and perhaps thrilling opportunity.

 

I want to leave this post with an action step, but I don’t want to tell anyone to go jump out of a plane in order to improve their quality of life. I do believe, however, that if you are feeling fear you need to face it. When I approach fear I

 

Just think about all the opportunities available to you. Normally, your brain does a pretty good job of ignoring them!

 

One eye opening website I’ve been frequenting in cloud9living.com. It blows my mind how many unique adventures there are that can each give me the opportunity to grow as a person.

 

Check out Cloud9Living.com. Tell me what experiences you’d be excited to try from their website! (Pick something that frightens you a bit!)