Life is either a daring adventure or nothing:This is such a fascinating quote by Helen Keller. I love the boldness of this quote and a fiery punch that it delivers. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. We can all try and run toward safety and take cover from all the risks.
But this limits the possibilities of our life largely. The low-risk approach might work for smaller things. If we want to go beyond and explore life at its full possibilities, we can’t avoid risk. In such a case playing it safe happens to be the worst risk. With that in mind let’s try and explore the quote life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all by Helen Keller.
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Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all
Life is risky. From the day we are born to everything we face is fraught with risks. It is foolish to think that will avoid all risks in life. Equally it doesn’t mean that we take all risks and act stupid. The point of this court is to find strength within ourselves to face these risks. We are to find a way to come on top of this risks and explore life for its beauty. This beauty often lies well beyond these risks.
The only way to find out these beautiful things, is by going beyond the comfort zone of the known into the realm of unknown. And that’s the life of daring adventure. The ship is often safe at the harbour – but that’s not what it’s made for. We are safe in our comfort zones. But if we decide to stay there it nullifies all opportunities of growth. And without growth what else is there apart from death? I think that’s the reality this quote from Helen Keller puts in front of us. What is life if it is not a daring adventure?
Life without adventure is a life wasted
Life without adventure is boring. It has the same predictable patterns with clear knowns. If we want to have fun, we must go beyond and seek a certain level of thrill and adventure. This thriller adventure naturally comes when we face risks. This reminds me of a beautiful quote from Anthony Robbins – where he says, a beautiful life it’s in a fair balance between something uncomfortable and risky while facing with confidence of being able to come out as a victor.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all
– Helen Keller Quotes
I know that I’m paraphrasing this quote, but the theme remains the same. A life without adventure is no fun. It’s up to us to decide what is the right level of adventure that we’re willing to take. If it is feeling too difficult, then it means that you’ve not worked out your fall-back option. A risk is only risk if we don’t have a risk-mitigation plan. Fear tells us to prepare so that the cost of failure is not too expensive. We can’t read it the wrong way and not taking any risk at all. Life must be a daring adventure.
Security is mostly a superstition
If the above 2 paragraphs did not convince you, let’s think about it this way. Security is a made-up thing. We never know what our next moment in life is about. We tend to think that we are in control – but we’re not. Life is hugely unpredictable. It will challenges move us beyond our comfort zone and bring us to our knees sometimes. But life is not about how hard it hits us. It is about how hard we keep fighting back.
So, security is mostly a superstition. It gives us a false sense of comfort acting so predictable and we are in charge. Just for once let go of that belief and take life as it comes. Think about things you would do if there were no risks. Would that make it easier to follow your heart? If the answer is yes, you need to find out what you must do to create that feeling.
Security creates a false sense of hope – but it also does it dangerous thing in the sense that it limits you. Don’t fall prey to its tactics. Let’s move beyond this vagaries of fear and limitations of the notion of security. There ought to be a life in the sense of adventure. And it this this sense of adventure that keeps us alive.
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.