Life is either a daring adventure or nothing: I love the boldness of this quote – there are probably two types of this world – one that’s safe where the results are average at best. The other is at extremes where we have a large chance of success or failure. The problem with the latter is that failure can be devastating. To prevent this failure, we gravitate towards the law of averages where the potential of failure is lower. Unfortunately, this also means that the potential for success is also small.
This quote by Helen Keller acts as a powerful motivator because it makes us think about the risks. If we don’t take risks, the chances of success are smaller. But these risks often come as an adventure, by trying something new – experiencing a change from our comfort zone. Life can be a daring adventure if we get good at taking these risks. The beauty of this quote is that it talks to the risk-taking side of us and asks us to be bold. However, while doing this, I’d only urge that you have a safety net so that the failure is not so expensive or disastrous.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing Meaning
Life is full of unknowns. These unknowns are scary and hence when we are at a crossroads, we look to others for advice. The most natural advice we get is to stick to the safe path and do what others have done. In other words, this advice is invariably about following the crowd. The other alternative is people ask you to stick to your comfort zone.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all
– Helen Keller Quotes
Now, this comfort zone is a beautiful space. It makes us feel confident and powerful – but it plays against us sometimes. It doesn’t allow us to go beyond our limitations or thoughts and explore what we are capable of. In other words, we set smaller goals but with a greater chance of success. Without trying beyond them, how will we know what we are capable of? At these stages, we can take some inspiration from Helen Keller’s quote that talks about life as an adventure.
Security is mostly a superstition
The quote gets even more powerful when we look at security. The illusion of security makes us think that life is predictable and we are in control of everything. However, this works very well in an ideal scenario. Life is unpredictable, things happen that change our approach, mindset and sometimes even our values. These changes although don’t happen every day, they can create a compelling impact on our lives. Hence the message – security is almost a superstition. It is a bubble that makes us feel safe and that nothing bad will happen to us. But it is a very important bubble. The best way to handle this is to realize what makes us feel secure and risk the other things. There’s no point in risking everything we have if it makes us vulnerable beyond redemption.
The point in this quote about security being a superstition is to find a fair balance between the two. Both risks and security are very important for us to be healthy and take on life. These two can be complementary things rather than competing with each other. The idea is to go beyond this superstition and think about what’s the right balance to achieve between security and moving from the comfort zone. For this day and age, we can extend the quote to enable us to take risks, and not be afraid of life. Life is a daring adventure if we choose it to be. Equally, we can be clever about the adventures we choose so that we create better chances for ourselves to win.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller
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Thought provoking indeed and it may all be perceptions of the human mind…nice inspiring lines of Helen Keller ..analysed so very well!
It is nice to hear from you Suni, Apologies I wasn’t able to decipher your full name. I love Helen Keller’s quotes, I think the dichotomy of risks and opportunities is fabulous. Each time, I try to think of a decision, something seems to impact that and change an approach. It is incredible to even think and wonder how many times we go back on a decision and try to do different things each time. At the same time, our personality keeps building in the backend which is fabulous work on its own :)
I took life as an adventure and found it thrilling enough.
Thank you Matheikal, would love to know some of your stories and adventures. A parallel life and so much of excitement to know and understand, I would love an opportunity to vicariously live some of those :)
We all interpret life in our own ways. Some say it is a drudgery others say it is an adventure. Hindus believe, life is not for enjoyment in material sense. We are here because we have purpose to serve. That is to understand our relation with the universe. But we forget the purpose. Hindus even give a shortcut to adventure seekers. They can opt out of society altogether and become a sannyasin in search of truth. Those who decide to stay in society, have four stages, irrespective of their social state and status. Childhood, youth, house holder and vanaprastha. Those who wish to become a householder, should have to think of security, because society may have contingencies and norms. As a householder one has to meet those obligations. So different horse for different course.
…but going through the complexities of life with all the “mohos” and “mayas” are by no means less adventurous.
Adventure, I do not believe can be in a physical tightrope alone, it could be within the relationship as well.
I second your view Suman. It is indeed very exciting to go through those mohas and mayas. I think it gives us a really good clarity as to who we really are as people. I know that there is a person we project and a person we know internally. The more we try to know about this internal person, going through the Mohas and Mayas gets really exciting. It helps us understand where we get our motivation or desire from. Not only that, it also helps us to keep pushing forward and moving in a direction where we know ourselves much better.
I really like the depth of your knowledge on the philosophical construct Abhijit. I have only recently started reading Karmayoga and fascinated with its concepts. I must admit that I am very much a novice. Having you talk about these aspects is a very powerful motivator for me personally.
Drudgery is an interesting coinage. I did use that word a while back until I consciously had to move away from it. Each time I stayed with drudgery, it kept pulling my spirits back. I suppose there are a lot of elements into personality management. It has been an exciting journey from then. I have been constantly motivated by the adventurous spirit. It has got me into trouble more than a few times, but I am probably a bit thick skinned to learn properly. I suppose with time, I have become slightly better with risks. I know there are a lot of people who would disagree :D .
But when I think of risk, uncertainty, security – I still identify adventure as a core sense of motivation. Almost as if a central part of me from which I am unable to move on. From then on, it has been a conscious effort to find what excites me and how to maintain that balance between certainty and uncertainty to ensure that everyday can be a motivating one. The entire personal construct seems to consciously keep changing, but the more I get into these thoughts – I do realise that I am in control of a lot of factors around me. Most importantly, the way I behave. I would really like to understand more about the philosophical approach. It has a very strong message and guidance of training the mind for a long term goal. If we are able to tie our everyday activities to that long term goal, life would be pretty fascinating.