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](https://yellow-blog-images.imgix.net/2016/05/MG_13941.jpg)Without risk, where is opportunity?
Many of our choices in life will involve some risk, either great or small. Perhaps you want to move to a new place, change careers, start your own company, or stay at home with your kids. While all of these are known as more “risky” decisions, they also require vulnerability, which seem to go hand in hand. When you take a risk, you are putting yourself out there in the unknown space – just like vulnerability. You have the courage to stand up, step out, and creatively make a choice that may change your life forever.
Change is inevitable. But the reward of taking healthy risks and being vulnerable in your journey can bring opportunity for great rewards.
By nature, risk can be scary! Life has no guarantees. It’s uncertain and unpredictable. Have you ever experienced having your life completely planned out to the “T” and then, in just a matter of 5 minutes, your whole world flipped upside down? Change is inevitable. But the reward of taking healthy risks and being vulnerable in your journey can bring opportunity for great rewards. 
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_In today’s society, a lot of us like to focus on those BIG risks, like starting a company, moving to a major city, etc. – but in this blog, I want us to look at those small risks that are huge.
Being confident to be vulnerable enough to say “I choose to stay at home with my kids and take time off before I begin to plan for the next step in my career” or “I choose to start writing and designing for my family and friends even though I can’t afford my own website yet.” Small and vulnerable choices are amazing to highlight in our lives because we think that risk taking has to solely be life changing decisions. The beauty is that vulnerability is everywhere. Courage is everywhere. Focus on what often is overlooked and watch your progress of what those small but huge risk-taking decisions will be for your personal and professional growth.
So why take these risks and be vulnerable throughout your own life’s story?
1) They open opportunity: Opportunity will increase the more you take healthy risk and practice vulnerability. Perhaps your dream job may not be waiting at your doorstep right when you graduate from college, but there is a part-time job that will help you build experience and greater understanding to make you a competitive applicant in a couple of years. This is an example of a small, but huge risk that can help land you that dream job soon.
2) **They open up your talents, interests, abilities, and dreams: **Ask yourself what this risk would be worth to you even if you fail. Taking risk and being vulnerability may open up your creativity and exploration even if you fail at first. You may acquire new strengths and skills that you have always been equipped for, but never were aware of.
**3) They allow you to discover more of yourself: **There is a certain level of satisfaction knowing that you chased your dreams and took action steps toward your goals. When you take risk and practice vulnerability, you discover more than just what you have – you discover who you are and who you were created to be. This allows you to have an open heart and open mind to truly discover the uniqueness that you possess.
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4) They can make you feel alive: **This whole quarter is about GRIT: The woman who works hard, speaks up, even when her voice trembles, because she knows that her cause is much larger than any fear. When you begin to step fully into the light, discover the most inner depths of your passions, and engage in the small, but great risks – there you begin to feel alive, you discover your purpose, and you take the necessary steps to fulfill the need this world so desperately desires from what is inside of you.
When you take risk and practice vulnerability, you discover more than just what you have – you discover who you are and who you were created to be.
When you are fully in the light, taking risks and having the courage to be vulnerable, that is where you will find true freedom, opportunity, and growth.
Photos by Karen Marie
