"Risk"

Taking a risk is not something that is easy. Just like Perkins says in this chapter, "There are times when doing nothing, or making a 'safe choice', actually entails greater risks than a bold gamble" (150). This made me think, how do you decide when to take action and when to stay put? In Shackleton's case, his decision to leave Elephant Island and search for food supplies by going to South Georgia was a definite plus for his crew. Obviously, I have never experienced something so life threatening or risky before. I think that you never know whether the choice you made was right until the situation has completely ended, which can be very dangerous sometimes. However, I feel that it is important to be adventurous, especially while you are young, so even if it turns out to be a mistake, you can learn from it and grow.

http://www.inspirationalspark.com/image-files/jumping-quoted.jpg

Back in my first year at ICUHS, I was playing around in the hallways and took a huge leap in the air and landed badly (on concrete floor, wearing flip flops...). At first the doctor said it was fine, so I only used crutches for a week and even went on a trip to the states for three weeks over the summer. After I returned to Japan, I went to a different doctor and found out that part of my bone had chipped off. Also, that chipped off part had turned 90 degrees and my body was trying to fix it by itself. No wonder it hurt so bad and I had a huge lump on my foot... I had to decide whether I would have surgery on my foot to re-break my bone and screw it back together in the correct position, or just leave it since it didn't affect my daily routines or cheer. To me, this was a huge deal because having surgery would mean not being able to exercise for 3 whole months, which meant not competing at the annual cheer competition and putting aside the lead role in my ballet performance. On the other hand, not having surgery meant that one day it would be hard for me to continue ballet and when I got older, I would experience some pain in my foot. At first I could not decide whether or not to take the "risk" of this surgery, but I decided to have surgery in the end. After long months of waiting and finally thinking that I would be able to dance again, I was told by my doctor that I would need to have surgery once more to fix a certain tissue around my originally broken bone. At that moment, I seriously thought that I was cursed by some sports-God who didn't want me to dance ever again. After about a year from the day that I broke my foot in the hallway, I was finally back to ballet lessons and cheer practice with a pain-free foot. Now that I think about it, I am very glad that I took the choice of having surgery because without it, I may not be dancing right now. And to be quite frank, I think that I've actually improved technically in my ballet skills after overcoming this struggle. Even though this "risk" of mine is nothing compared to Shackleton's or his crew's, I think that it is one of the biggest and one the most rewarding risks that I have taken in my life.