My Trip to South Africa: Risk Taking

I went to Africa and all I got was this life lesson… 

I choose to go to South Africa, a country I knew nothing about. After all, Mary Kate and Ashley never did a movie there! I filled out my forms, got all my signatures and bought my plane ticket. I was ready! But as the days grew closer, my anxiety and fear started to seep into my excitement. “Oh my god, what have I done? I’m going halfway across the world, with no phone, to a place where I have no family and no back out option. Eek!” That’s the thing about taking risks; you have no idea what the reward is going to look like. Everyone always makes taking risks seem so glamorous but I’ll be the first to tell you I hate taking risks and doing unfamiliar things! However, living in Port Elizabeth, South Africa for a month taught me a thing or two about taking risks.

Risk Taking for Beginners

• Start out small. Don’t do something completely crazy if you haven’t readied yourself for it yet. For example, if you have a bucket list and two of the items are try Bikram yoga or go skydiving, get your yoga pants on, girl!
• Work your way up. Don’t settle because you are comfortable. Once you’ve gotten used to the smaller risks (the ones that make you feel like you just got a pair of Frye boots for 50% off), move your way up to bigger risks (the ones that make you feel like you just drank 3 shots of espresso) and eventually the biggest risks (the ones that make you feel like you are being chased by a lion).
• Be open-minded. After you do some crazy things, you might realize that you didn’t like them at all. That’s okay! You’re not going to like every risk that you take. Don’t let that stop you from trying new things and meeting new people.
• If you conscience says no, don’t do it. Sometimes, risks are stupid for a reason! If all of your friends are going diving with sharks, don’t let them pressure you if you really feel uncomfortable. That little voice in the back of our head is there for a reason. So when someone says “20 tequila shots!” and you think “danger, Will Robinson”, don’t do it!

What I’ve really learned about risks is that the smallest in scale are sometimes the hardest to perform. For me, talking to a guy at a bar or eating at a restaurant alone is ten times harder than zip lining through the jungle of Africa. Going abroad has inspired me to take the risks that seem small because those will be the most rewarding for me.