2023 Word of the Year: FEAR: "Take More Risks"

 

Tammany Trace, Mandeville, Louisiana. May 2021. Credit: Mzuriana.

Around the beginning of the year, the universe whispered into my ear : "Take more risks." 

I've done scary things. Adventures. Acts of derring-do here and there. Uprooted myself.

But the whisper in my ear - "take more risks" - came from a different wellspring. There was a sense of some urgency.

I'm not getting younger, and evidently I am not immortal.

My grandparents are gone. Both my parents are gone. Most of my aunts and uncles are gone. 

I'm almost at the front of the line, closest to the abyss. 

I don't want to be on my deathbed regretting that I didn't take the fullest advantage of what life offers because of silly ol' fears of things like looking stupid, experiencing rejection, failing, falling, flailing. 

I've got to take more risks.

Related posts: 

• 2016: Flashback: Fear and Adventure: A Skydiving Story
  
• 2013: One Thing That Scares You Per Day Keeps Apathy at Bay
• 2023 March: Word of the Year: FEAR: Forgetting Everything's All Right 
• 2023 February: Word of the Year: FEAR: Fuck Everything And Run
• 2023 January: Word of the Year: FEAR: Looking Into the Abyss Without Falling In