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TEN LIVES ARE NOT TOO MUCH

As far as I am concerned, ten lives are not too much and one life is not enough. There are so many things I want to do and not enough time to do them all. 

My bucket list is still full after all these years. The list is so big, I need other people to help carry the bucket.

My bucket list scares many people, and sometimes it even scares me when I am tired and the hobgoblins of fear dance in my mind. That’s why I don’t listen to the voice of fear or make major decisions when I have a tired mind.

Every item on my bucket list involves risk. That’s what makes bucket lists into an adventure. Without risk, you just have a mundane to do list and nothing more.

Everything worth having involves risk. Getting married, having children, flying in airplanes, and sailing around the world on your own small sailboat all involve risk. 

People who don’t take risks waste a perfectly good life. 

Aversion to risk is like standing in wet cement, and if you stand there too long, you become stuck for the rest of your life.

Whether you like it or not, life is risky. Bad things happen to good people all the time, and aversion to risk will not shield you from misfortunes that are a part of being alive.

People who never take risks miss out on life’s greatest adventures.

The biggest rewards go to those who take the biggest risks and who never quit.

For a risk to be worthwhile, the rewards of taking a risk should be proportional to amount of risk you assume. If the rewards are tiny for a great deal of risk, you are engaging in brinksmanship. Don’t do it.

Not all risks are necessary or worthwhile. 

When I begin a new adventure, I evaluate the risk and carefully review the penalty of making a mistake. I will swim on a thousand beaches around the world, but you will never see me swim in the crocodile infested Zambezi River. Swimming with crocodiles is not worth the risk.

A situationally aware adventurer is an expert at risk assessment, and quickly parses the difference between necessary and unnecessary risks. There is a huge difference in risk between flying in an airplane, parachuting out of an airplane, BASE jumping, and flying in a squirrel suit off a high mountain cliff.

When I sailed Exit Only around the world, I did everything possible to eliminate unnecessary risks and minimize the necessary ones. Getting to the sweet spot where risks are reasonable is expensive and takes time, but once the job is done, the odds are in your favor that you will have a great adventure and live to see many more days.

Most people are risk averse, and if you listen to what they say, you will kiss your dreams goodbye. They will tell you to be careful, avoid risk, and worship at the altar of security. Don’t listen to them or take counsel of their fears.

If you want to know whether it’s possible to do an item on your bucket list, ask someone who has already done it. They know what they are talking about and you can trust their advice.

If you want to sail around the world in your own boat, the only person qualified to advise you is someone who has already done it.

Don’t ask monohull sailors whether it’s safe to sail around the world in a catamaran. Ask Dr. David Lewis who sailed with his family around Cape Horn in a home built catamaran named Rehu Moana. He was the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a catamaran south of all the great capes. 

I admire the abilities of rock climbers who literally live close to the edge. Their finely honed risk assessment and risk management skills keep them safe as they ascend the sheer rock face of El Capitan in Yosemite. If I had ten lives I would spend one of them climbing rocks. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have ten lives, and when I choose to do one thing, it means I am choosing to not do others.

That’s the problem with being a one life person. I always have to choose.

My bucket list is a luxury not afforded to all, and I have more than a few fallen comrades who would have been ecstatic to choose even a few items on my list.

I realize how fortunate I am, and I will not become an insufferable little clod of complaints about the things I don’t get to do.

Instead, I will focus on all the adventures that remain, and I will get busy with making them happen.

I would love to have ten lives, but one life will have to do.

Life is good.

Dr. Dave

AND THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT!

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Dr. Dave's Eclectic Blog - Positive Thinking Doctor - David J. Abbott M.D.

WHO IS DR. DAVE AND WHY IS HE BLOGGING?


More than two decades ago, Captain Dave (aka Dr. Dave) started writing and creating websites as he sailed around the world on his sailboat, SV Exit Only. Those early websites and books evolved into the Positive Thinking Network you see today.

Captain Dave lived overseas for twenty-eight years in his globe trotting lifestyle until he became a Flying Doctor with the Indian Health Service working for ten years in the American Southwest flying out to deliver health care to the Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Havasupai, and Colorado River Tribes.

Dr. Dave completed his work with the Indian Health Service in Arizona, and now runs the Positive Thinking Network full time either from his catamaran or his Land Rover Defenders as he travels around the world

The Positive Thinking Network has a global outreach sending a positive message to 196 countries, and it is your definitive source of positive thinking on the World Wide Web. 

With hundreds of positive websites, and more than a million pages and podcasts downloaded each month, it's where you come to learn everything you want to know about positive thinking. The Positive Thinking Network focuses on positive self-talk, positive spirituality, winning the battle against depression, PTSD, and positive adventure.

Hundreds of family safe websites stand ready to fill your mind with positive things.

Dr. Dave and the Positive Thinking Network work around the clock to change the world, one person at a time, one web page at a time, and one podcast at a time.