I like the idea of managing my day to day risk. It is sort of like the insurance company does when they are deciding what my cost will be for my car insurance. It is also doing a little thinking about day to day life, and balancing those activities with more risk over a longer period of time. There is a large happy medium in our lives if we choose it. Sort of like Buddha and taking the middle road, it is not really that difficult and the returns are great.
I like driving as a good risk example because I live in a city, and driving is a part of my everyday life. I take two roads to work that are main trunk roads. They each have some serious accidents on them everyday. Because the traffic is moving rapidly, and there is a lot of it, I have to come to terms with possibilities that an accident I am involved in will probably be very serious.
At the rush hour times of day are the greatest risks of an accident. Early in the morning, there is always a possibility of a late night drunk heading home. During non rush hour periods are women and children in the car, or not, hurrying to get their shopping done before they have to meet their children and start their evening.
At night are usually the young drivers speeding around with their newfound power in their foot. This group of driver’s can rightly claim to have the fastest reflexes of any group out on the road, but they are also the least experienced, and most easily distracted group on the road. Of course their accident record and insurance rates reflect it. It appears by casual observation that they lead all age groups in rear end accidents, if you can call such accidents, accidents. Normally, they appear to be collisions caused by lack of attention.
When I venture out on these busy roads I have to be aware of the hazards of that time of day. The most serious accidents are at rush hour, the rest of the day except for about seven to ten at night is about the same risk, with that isolated period where I am most likely to have a collision with a teen age driver. So the wise thing to do would be off these roads during rush hour and middle evenings. To do otherwise is to increase my personal risk of being in an accident.
This same thought process applies to everything around me. Certain foods are better choices, some neighborhoods are safer, the amount of sleep I get makes a difference. In a high level view of our lives, we control very little of what happens around us. How we think about what we do, we can make a big difference in keeping ourselves safe.
Thinking about 9/11 is another good risk thinking exercise. You can name a number of large cities where you might live where 9/11 could have happened. You can also make a list of buildings most likely to be effected in each of these cities. Once you have that list, you can better manage your risk of being hurt even if you live in a large city with many possible targets. Better yet is not living in a large city, and choosing small town life instead. The problem with a small town is it has risks of its own, unless you know you would enjoy small town life.
It is good to make a little list of activities once in a while, broken out by time and risk. Too many risky activities means we are going to get hurt sooner instead of later, but too little risk does not always mean safety either, as accidents happen everywhere. Taking a known risk you can afford on every level may be a good risk. Speeding down the street and running a red light at rush hour, is a foolish risk. Knowing the difference keeps life exciting. Knowing the risks you take in general, and knowing whether or not you will survive if you lose, both physically and emotionally, makes life a lot more enjoyable.
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