The Benefits of Risk

Author: Andrew Findlay

Rating: ***

By: Erin James

In the article titled, “The Benefits of Risk,” the author talks about the importance of letting young children, teenagers, and even adults allow themselves to test their abilities and take on challenges that could either have a good or bad outcome. This article would be a good read for any outdoor ed student because it has a lot to do with what we learn in class and how to apply it in the outdoors. 

Throughout the article, it describes risks as something that people should not be punished or disciplined for, but something that let’s us grow as human beings both mentally and physically. As long as the risk is in a controlled manner, taking risks while we are still young can ultimately boost our confidence and help our overall well-being while pushing us to be the best we can be to achieve our goals. The author even includes personal experiences about their children and about a child of a friend of theirs. They explain that letting their children try new things instead of being too overprotective, will help them become stronger in the long run and even encourage them to participate in outdoor activities more often than just staying home and watching TV. A young child, named Kaleo Plouffe, started hiking with his father at a very young age which eventually made Kaleo less needy and able to make good decisions. 

Before reading this article and discussing the subject of risks in class, I had always thought that the definition of the word “risk” was something that people do who don’t think about the consequences of their actions. Now, i believe that risks are a good thing because it helps our overall health and challenges us to move out of our comfort zones. As i am a shy person, i sometimes find it difficult to move out of my comfort zone since i like to overthink things and worry about what could go wrong, so i think a big goal of mine is to not necessarily forget everything that could go wrong in a situation, but to focus on everything that could go right and how it could benefit me.  

Findlay, Andrew. 'The Benefits Of Risk'. Explore Magazine. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.