Indeed:
The mantra “If you never try, you will never know” captures the spirit of exploration, growth, and fulfilment. It encourages us to “break free from the shackles of fear”, step into the unknown, and embrace the opportunities that await.
Wow. They make it sound so adventurous, don’t they?
And yes, all of what you read there is absolutely correct, of course.
But it’s also a little disingenuous, because there’s a whole other side to it that isn’t mentioned above.
Take for example my day today. I did a lot of mundane stuff which I have done many times before, and so to which the mantra in the title doesn’t apply.
I’ve already tried it – previously and often – and I am fully aware of the implications and experiences thereof.
One of my jobs was cleaning the oven (I told you it was mundane), and the issue with cleaning the oven is the lingering smell of oven cleaner. And so I left the oven door open and the fan on to air the oven out.
I’ve done that before as well.
I went walking barefoot into the kitchen maybe an hour later (still nothing new), just as a bird flew across the back windows. Probably just a Cape Turtle Dove, but in the bright sunshine outside, the sudden movement really caught my eye.
What I hadn’t previously tried was going around the right hand corner, while looking over to the left, and allowing my right lateral cuneiform bone to come into sudden and somewhat forceful contact with the glass and metal corner of the oven door – folded down handily at lateral cuneiform bone height.
Sweet baby Jesus.
It was like a scene from Tom and Jerry, but with fewer domestic mammals. There were stars and bluebirds circling around my head as my involuntary nervous system hastily adjusted blood flow and balance mechanisms to keep me from falling over.
I – probably wisely – decided to pre-empt any fainting spell as the tunnel vision closed in and, after a controlled descent – had a little sit down on the kitchen floor and tried not to vomit.
Look. This was much earlier in the afternoon. I’m ok now. I mean, my foot is pretty purple, I can’t really walk and I’m in a decent amount of pain, but it seems that I actually survived that acute phase of injury and I have high hopes that I’ll be fine in a few weeks.
But would I advise you to “break free from the shackles of fear”, and smash your right foot into an oven door?
No. No, I would not.
I have tried that so that you will never have to know.
Thank me later.