THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "RISKING IT ALL"

This past year, I had to make a difficult decision: take some time away from teaching to go explore a foreign country and do some things that I always wanted to do, or to keep teaching at a school that I really liked. The reasons for continuing to teach were obvious: I enjoyed doing it, I had worked at it for 5 years and was just starting to hit my stride, and my school was awesome. However, there was this nagging feeling inside of me that I needed to go on an adventure. I wanted to go study Spanish in a Spanish-speaking country, and I wanted to do some things that I had never done before, such as go Scuba Diving and ride a horse at full speed. I had a tough decision to make, but in the end, it was the easiest decision I ever made. It started with a simple realization that there is no such thing as “risking it all”.

Let’s take the worst-case scenario: I skip out on teaching for a semester (or year) and go to a country like Mexico, but after a few weeks of bliss, someone robs me and takes all my money. Then, I fall desperately ill with swine flu and I need a liver transplant because the flu completely destroyed me. I can’t afford to fly home to the US, so I have the operation performed by an underground Mexican doctor who works mainly with drug lords. The doctor performs the transplant, but he is so doped up that he accidentally amputates my left leg as well, and I’m bound to a wheel chair for the rest of my life. I finally get home to the US and I can’t find a job as a teacher, and I am left to destitution and despair. Life is one cruel existence.

But even if this worst-case scenario unfolds, I haven’t lost everything. I still have my brains. I still have my life, my family, and my friends. I still have my experience. I could write a book about how I had lived the worst life possible. I would speak to groups of high school students and encourage them to enjoy the livers that they have because it is terrible to get a liver transplant. I could speak to the families of liver donors and thank them for the gift of life. I might be down, but I’m not out.

When I finally realized that you can’t risk it all if you can’t lose it all, my decision was very easy to make. I could always go back to teaching. I could always find a way to recover from any bad thing that might happen, even if it would be painful.

That is the beauty of being human. At any moment, we can take what little we have and use it to create something new. It is like we are at a casino where we will ALWAYS have some money on our account that will allow us to continue to play. Even if you have a ton of money and bet it all and lose, you miraculously still have some money left to play with. In this life, you can bet it all, but you can’t lose it all. If you have a pulse, you will always have a few dollars to play with, and if you found a way at one point in your life to turn a few dollars into something more, then you can do it again.

A person with two dollars in their pocket can change the world, and whether we know it or not, we’re all sitting with a few dollars that are begging for us to play.

The great tragedy in life is not those who risked it all and lost. The great tragedy in this life consists of those who never found the courage to play the game.

…

After realizing that I truly wasn’t risking it all, I decided to go on this adventure, and I’m staring out my patio that overlooks the ocean in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I just finished my Scuba Diving certification, I’m watching the World Series with Spanish commentators, I just finished three delicious Shredded Pork Quesadillas that cost $2, and I’m planning on riding some horses in a few weeks. I’m so glad I had the courage to take this “risk” and go on an adventure to explore my classroom.

And if I fall desperately ill in the next few weeks and have a botched liver transplant, keep your eye out for one heck of a New York Times Bestseller.