Making Decisions About Risks: Is a High-Risk Lifestyle Worthwhile?

Some people complain of boredom quite a lot. Life never seems to be quite interesting or stimulating enough for them. These people tend to fall into one of two general categories, 1) Those who accept this low-risk, highly secure but 'boring' life and get mildly depressed over time or 2) Decide to step it up by doing deliberately high-risk activities that they hope will spice up their lives.

The best food is seasoned carefully and in a balanced way. So it is with most people's lives. They require the correct combination of ingredients and 'spices' to give a person, as closely as is realistically possible, the kind of life they would really like to have.

In considering the options, I think that there are some risky behaviors worth avoiding because the likelihood is that with certain rolls of the dice, the player is most apt to lose - and maybe to lose big.

I would consider the following to be high-risk activities that rarely (if ever) produce the positive stimulation that is sought without bringing along with it great personal suffering and damage.

The regular heavy or increased usage of alcohol or drugs.
They DO alter consciousness. That is, they change how your brain works. Use them enough, and the changes may be irreversible. The entertainment they seem to provide is often only experienced by yourself. Those around you more often find the changes they see in you obnoxious.

Driving recklessly.
A 'rush' for many teenagers and as outright dangerous to life and limb to any adult as it is to a newly licensed adolescent. Road deaths are one of the most prevalent and controllable causes of death and serious injury in the world.

Cheating on your primary relationship.
Thrills? Gratification? Ego enhancement? Would it really be worth it to lose the trust of your partner in w way that will never be fully restored - even after a one-time 'fling?'

Taking a big chunk of your hard-earned (or borrowed) money and investing it in a "sure thing."
More people have been rendered poor by this gambit than by almost any other. Most sure things simply aren't.

Impulsive recklessness of any type.
This means whatever it means to you!