When to fold em and when to hold em

Let me pose a question. When do you take a risk and when do you back down?
Everyone has a different philosophy when it comes to risk. There are those that play the game of life in a very conservative fashion. Always take the sure route, they say. While they do know that there is no such thing as a sure thing, they are more than willing to go with the odds. If there is doubt, then they don’t take any chances. It’s just better to play it safe.

Then there are those that throw caution to the wind. They are all about taking action and putting matters into their own hands. They look at many opportunities as high-risk, high reward.

The tricky thing about risky situations is if the wrong decision is made then there is this lousy thing called regret that comes into play.

I have one problem. I have this fear of regret. I am afraid that one day in my life I will think back to a certain circumstance and wish that I had done something different. It is never good to be motivated by fear but I do not see it as one of those kinds of fears. I classify it as a desire to eliminate the opportunity for regret.

So when I said that I have one problem, I meant to say I have many and this is just one of them. Another one of my stumbling blocks is the fact that I feel the need to act in every situation. I think when I was a kid I feel in love with Nike’s slogan “Just Do It.” For some reason I think that clearing the air with a quick ramble of my thoughts will make things aok. Many might say that this comes back to bite me in the butt. I would like to think that I’m proactive. I tell it how it is.

Looking back on a these situations that have occurred during my life, I am constantly reminded of the adage, some things are better left unsaid. The more that I hear it, the more I wish that I could follow it.

There is another saying I head once and I hope that I can recite it properly. It goes, it is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are an idiot than to open it and expel all doubt.

I guess if I am an idiot then people have no doubts. Make no mistake about it, there have been times when I have opened my trap and the situation was worse off after the fact.

There is one consolation that I get from being open and that is I will always know. I will always know that I did something and that I didn’t wait for something else to control my destiny. I stepped into the batter’s box and took my cuts. So what if I struck out. At least I went down swinging.