Perception

Perceived risk is completely different from real, actual risk.

How we view anything: love, fear, danger etc. are all different depending on how we view the circumstance and who or what is involved.

Recently I was driving on a three lane highway; I was driving along in the far right lane with one other car going relatively the same speed in the far left lane reserved for faster moving vehicles. I noticed there was a car coming up quickly behind me getting ready to make the pass in the middle between me and the car on the far left.

I read the facial expression on the young driver who was passing me and I couldn’t help but notice the immediate change in disposition once she got ready to zoom by.

There was no real risk involved in what she was doing other than the increase in speed associated with making the maneuver. Her face went from calm and collected to riddled with fear and anxiety as soon as she got ready to go around me.

Her approach was smooth and calculated but I could tell the woman riding shotgun caused this little girl to change from confident to questioning. The girl wasn’t scared to pass me, made evident by her casualness in changing to the middle lane. What caused this girl to give the move a second thought was the reaction this woman in the front gave when the driver punched the gas a little to get around.

I could instantly tell this young driver was now made uncomfortable, not by the situation on the highway but by the growing uneasiness of the woman in the car with her.

The perceived risk and tension from the older woman next to her, who must have been her guardian, caused the girl to clinch so tightly to the steering wheel that I could see the white of her knuckles.

If the woman had not been in the car this would have been nothing more than a routine pass, along a busy highway. Instead, what would have been an ordinary offensive driving move turned into an opportunity for fear to creep in (fear of her mother’s scorn) and cast doubt and concern over her initial reaction to pass.

It appears to me that a situation doesn’t present us the actual pressure, but instead it’s how we view or perceive the situation that dictates our response to it.

We have the power to control the outcome of almost every situation we find ourselves in based almost solely on how we view the risk and/or reward that the situation is powered by.

We can literally change out entire life for the better or the worse by changing our perceptions and how we view everything around us.

Situations in life either define us because we give them the power to do so, or are defined by us, based on the choice to have power and control over our lives.

Things are what we think about them, and they only hold the value we appoint them.

Every situation we come across in life takes on the form we associate with it- whether that is one of fear or love, anticipation or apprehension, the allocation of value is solely up to us and our interpretation of the risk and/or reward involved.

Choose to see the reward within the confines of risk and decide to live out loud for the things you want most in life.

Don’t hide in fear that things might not work out, instead, decide at this moment in time that life will take on a new form for you, a more lucrative form because you are going to question how you perceive things, and no longer take what life gives you simply because it appears to be what you’re presented with.