You could live your entire life with no risks taken. Nothing would happen to you, sure, but that's the crux of it all, isn't it? Nothing will happen to you. If you're someone who desires a small modicum of change, then you best not sit around all day hoping for it to come. Real change comes from actions, acting as steps, leading to the mountaintop of true, personal development. Most times, that involves risk.
Reddit user, u/Mr_Jennings_30, wanted to know how we should all step up when they asked:
Even If It Tastes Bad, Do It
Trying something new or outside your comfort zone at a restaurant, or cooking something you normally don't. Very little risk, but you might find something you really like. It's kinda funny how much courage that can take for certain people I know.
Pack It On Up
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Moving out of your sh-tty home town.
You can't grow roses in spoiled dirt.
I did this, and took a huge leap of faith. I moved to try and make it as a musician, and five years later after my move, I'm not a musician, but I am now an international gogo dancer, which I never knew I would ever be, because I used to HATE dancing.
Moving out of your home town was hard, weird, but so f-cking rewarding.
Are Your Feelings Worth More Than Knowing?
Talking to that girl. Go ahead. Don't be afraid. Pepper spray only hurts for 20 minutes or so.
Haha. But seriously. Every time I see a guy cry on here about talking to a girl, I'm amazed. In most of the circumstances, you won't even see this person again. The worst they can do is say no (I guess they can insult you, but 99% of people won't do that and for the 1% that do - that just makes them look like an asshole to any decent human being).
I'm a gay girl. I approach girls pretty frequently. No one has ever been a d-ck to me. I've never died. They don't get offended if they're straight. I don't get offended if they're not interested. I've made good friends this way! Just set your ego aside and roll with it.
Feel Out The Conversation, You Might Be Surprised
This may be a small one but I feel most people don't try: Starting a conversation with a stranger. Even just making a small comment to someone could end up brightening both of your days!
I talk to strangers all the time, and I can tell within literally one sentence whether the other person is they type of person who doesn't mind a chat.
I'd say probably at least 20-30 percent of the time people give off a vibe that says 'please don't continue this conversation' and then it fizzles after one comment.
No harm no foul.
Its only when people keep talking when one person clearly doesn't want to that it gets awkward.
Always Have Something Lined Up First
Changing your job if you don't like your old one.
I feel like this is a dangerous one if you're not careful about it.
My friend's mother worked at an elementary school as a teacher's assistant. She had a high school diploma and worked full time doing recess duty, looking after the kids and helping a teacher in the classroom with whatever. She had a 401k, health benefits, and was entitled to a pension once she retired. She got tired of her job and up and quit without having anything else lined up or a clue about what she wanted to work in. She ended up basically unemployed, just worked part-time gigs here or there. She was in her 40s when she decided to try something else.
By far, this was the worst thing she could have done with looking to pursue another job because she had nothing else lined up. She wanted to return to her old job after 3 months and was told she was no longer qualified because she wasn't bilingual.
It's good to pursue a new path, just make sure to have something worthwhile lined up first.
She got tired of her job and up and quit without having anything else lined up or a clue about what she wanted to work in.
I think this is where she screwed up. Nothing wrong about taking the risk and changing jobs, but make sure you have that new job lined up before quitting your current one if you need the income and benefits.
There Are No Restrictions Or Guidelines
Travelling by yourself. It can be weird at first, but once you realize you literally get to do everything you want to do it's great. Feel hungover? Do nothing or go sit in a park. Want to meet people? Go to a pub and introduce yourself as a tourist. I would recommend festival times of year like Christmas Markets for meeting people.
"Do more."
Top 2 things that i've learned growing older:
- Talking to the person you'd like to get to know better. Be it that one girl you're into, or even just a stranger if you want to get to know people.
- Embracing change/new opportunities even if it's scary or difficult. Jump into that cold water and don't settle for the easy way. Enhances your life and experience, and not going after these things usually leads to regret and a life less exciting.
Actually, not doing these things bear a greater risk than going for it, in a way. Do more.
If You Made A Thing, Share It!
Posting that art/music/meme/whatever content you made
unless your community is toxic ofc
"...Sooner Is Better Than Later."
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The broad based stock market by investing in index funds.
I grew up being told by my parents that the stock market was SUPER HARD and RISKY and that a lot of research was involved before getting started. They were wrong and I waited too long before starting - if anyone reading this has a disposable income, don't hesitate like I did, even if you're just microinvesting through a round-ups app or putting in a couple hundred bucks every 6 months, sooner is better than later.
The funny thing with money is that once it's not in your account it's easier to think it's not yours to spend anymore. Investing is like buying yourself a 30th or 40th birthday present, you won't regret it.
Try not to follow the bad advice given here, because you don't want to get the results that these guys did.
U/Duckerton375 asked: What's the worst advice someone ever gave you, but you still followed?
The workplace can bring a cornucopia of terrible advice. Don’t follow these unless you want to get fired.
​Bad jobs are usually not worth it.
Stick with a job no matter how bad it is. I stayed with a terrible job working retail, dealing with horrible customers and sexual harassment. I was told I wouldn't find anything better.
"No, no, you misunderstand. I said you wouldn't find anything better at making you feel like complete garbage."
This gets really creepy really fast.
frustrated workplace GIFGiphy"After you put in a job application, you need to call them at least once a day every day until they hire you."
Note: this did not get me hired. It got me called out by the HR person I was calling and forbidden to ever contact their facility again.
I work for a law firm that employees over 1500 people in the home office alone. Once I received a call from the building security saying, "Insert Name is here to speak with the owner." Well we are run by a committee so that's odd. Found out they just applied for a job and wanted to talk directly to the person that would potentially hire them. Told him the firm will contact them to schedule an interview. They refused to leave without "talking to the owner." Had security escort them out of the building.
​This is absolutely not true.
"Sleep is for people who do not want success" great words from my uncle, it almost killed me.
Now I may be oversleeping.
​Interpersonal relationships are also a big breeding ground for terrible advice. Don’t listen to any of these.
Heartbreaking.
My father always tought me and my brother that "having friends is bad and in the end they will never be there for you" so everytime I told my father about my friends he would get kinda mad and give me the advice to stop talking to them.
Now I am afraid of people and have several trust issues, thanks dad.
​This won’t end well.
A Christmas Story GIF by filmeditorGiphyIn the fifth grade my teacher was talking about bullying, then she said "if anyone tries to bully you just agree with them." So the next time I got bullied I agreed with the bully and they bullied me more.
Dude one time I saw an anti bullying video that told the victims to just BE NICE TO THE BULLY. Like the bully was hurling insults and the victim was smiling and complimenting him. My first thought was about how much I hated the mere thought that this would work. My second thought was of how the people who came up with that method had clearly never been bullied.
​Oof.
When I met my now wife at the age of 19, one of my coworkers said that it's very important to start at the bottom with presents and work your way up, she still has the socks I gave her on our first anniversary on the wall over our bed as a reminder...
I'm still trying to teach my boyfriend about good presents and bad presents. Biscuits from the supermarket = bad present. Cheap unbranded laptop battery from China as my only present = bad present (and only lasted 2 months). Anything off my 7-page wishlist = good present. It's literally a list of things I want to receive as presents.
​Can tell you from experience that this is a bad idea.
Had a falling out with some friends. My husband recommended I reach out to an old friend who ghosted me suddenly in a manner that induced some pretty severe abandonment trauma. Went for it anyways because "it's been so long, surely they changed". Am now experiencing the same things as last time.
When you follow bad advice, it can lead to mistakes that you just can’t come back from.​
Buying a house is tricky.
for sale dancing GIF by Lisa VertudachesGiphy"Buy a home now before the prices go up!" -my FIL in 2006.
We bought in 2007 and paid $259,500 for our 1,300 sq ft house (we really couldn't afford it and had an 80/20 so we had 8% interest for one loan and 6% on the other) and in 2008 it was worth $97,000 so refinancing wasn't even an option. We watched all of our neighbors walk away or get foreclosed on but we kept paying our bills and as of this very moment our house is worth $462,000. I'm so happy we stuck it out, we both worked our @sses off and the house will be paid off in 2 years.
It worked out for us, it's a horrible idea. Especially since 1300 sq ft houses are $460+k
My heartbreaks for future generations, I honestly don't know how people are going to afford housing in the future.
It’s there for a reason.
"Never apply for any government assistance."
Cue years of suffering trying to work full-time with a painful disability. Quit a particularly terrible job, and wanted to apply for food aid until I could find another gig; a friend with lots of DHS experience recommended I apply for Social Security "just to get in the system." Turns out my disability was bad enough to get accepted the first time, which I wasn't expecting. Really could've used that support, oh, the 30+ previous years of my life.
Credit is important to have.
I was told to not get a credit card until after college. I was super fortunate to have my college paid for so I had no loans, car paid in cash, no credit card or anything to start building credit. Found myself out in the world at 22 years old with a credit score of 0.
So while a lot of this bad advice came from trusted people, oftentimes they were too misinformed to give that advice in the first place. Don't trust the word of one person--do your research, and make decisions for yourself.
It'll be way better in the long run