One of the early skills that parents need to teach a child is good risk assessment.
Is the stove too hot to touch? Find out how deep the water is in the swimming pool before you jump in. Look right and left before you cross the road.
They are simple learnings so a child needs to assess where danger is and where it is safe to take advantage of opportunities.
The problem for some people, however, is their parents lacked good risk assessment skills so were unable to pass them on.
Do you constantly end up in one crisis after the other?
Are you a high-risk gambler who doesn’t know your limits so you’re in debt again and can’t pay the bills?
Are you struggling with an addiction to drugs or alcohol?
Have you lost yet another job or business opportunity?
Do you keep losing friends or have your relatives stopped speaking to you because of your risky behaviour?
Has your health suffered because of the way you live your life?
If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, it’s likely you have poor risk assessment skills. This means you rarely think before you leap and you leap before you think.
The insurance is so high for teenagers driving fast cars because many are often reckless and crash. They have not yet learnt to be careful; the insurance company knows that and their parents may know that too but the teenager only thinks about the thrill of the moment, not the consequences for the future around their driving decisions.
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the 6 questions, you may be doing the same thing by constantly reacting to life and situations only through emotion, without any logical thinking.
As we grow up, we all need to mature our personalities and take responsibility for our lives. Until that time we’re behaving in an immature way.
If people in your life critique your risk assessment and point out that your behaviour is immature, it may be tempting to become angry with them and accuse them of being superior when all they are doing is making an observation. This may explain why you constantly lose friends.
Mature adults learn to think logically because they have families, responsibilities and position within their community so they have learnt to be careful with their thoughts, what they say and what they do.
It’s being a mature adult because the respect of society depends upon you as an adult making mature decisions.
If you are a reckless risk taker, you may accuse these people of being boring, party poopers and not living life to the full.
They are, however, how families, kinships and society functions. It does not mean they cannot take large exciting leaps in their lives, simply that they look first before they dive out of an airplane with a well-packed parachute.
They are the kind of parents every child deserves because the mature adult develops the skill to look after their children all the time, not just when it suits them.
If you know you’re terrible at risk taking, are ready to admit that, and prepared to make changes, you’re on your way to becoming a mature adult who is able to make smart decisions to create a happier life for yourself and those around you.
Therapy is an excellent private space to make that happen.
If you’re ready to learn to become better at risk assessment with hypnotherapy, call my clinic on 02 8021 6429 to book your appointment.
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