It's one of the hardest things we can ask ourselves - It's one of the hardest decisions we will ever have to make, and it never truly gets easier, especially for those who regularly need to be pushed to the edges of our comfort zones. There are clearly the risk-takers and the non-risk takers, the gamblers and the non-gamblers. Which type are you?

I tend to be the non-risk taker. I'm the person, by nature, who plays it safe. A few years ago, after many years of playing it safe, I decided to take the biggest risk of my life. And so, without knowing what was in store for my future (do we ever really truly know what the future holds anyhow?) I decided that it was time for me to take that leap of faith. I had no idea if I'd have a soft, smooth landing or if I'd crash and burn, but I had come to a point in my life that I knew I needed a change. I needed more than a change; I needed a way out, and the only way to do so was to jump, blindly. When I did, I landed with both feet firmly planted on the ground and from that point on I never looked back, only forward. I learned something then; I learned the greatest lesson of my life. You'll never regret a risk. You'll never regret that one chance, that one opportunity. But you will come to regret those opportunities that have passed you by.

Until just a few years ago, I turned down so many amazing opportunities. This non-chance taker and non-gambler thought it was safer to live within my own self-imposed comfort zone, and it wasn't until I pushed myself beyond that I realized how much out there was at my fingertip, and just how much opportunity there was if I wanted it. Repetition is a bore. Stagnancy is deadly. Fear is fatal.

Fear is my worst enemy. It has caused me to back away from so much. But on that fateful day, several years ago, when I decided to throw caution to the wind and take the biggest gamble of my life there was no looking back. Since then I've known that the greatest regrets in life come from the opportunities not seized. Even those chances taken that haven't come to fruition or that have crashed and burned were opportunities - opportunities to live, and grow and learn. They say that the greatest lessons are those that are learned from mistakes and I will concur. From those mistakes and lessons come new opportunities and we should seize those moments with everything we've got. There's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and as many times as I've put the proverbial pen to paper, I've lifted it up, off the page, set it down and struggled to lift it up again.I saw this Risk or Regret image on Pinterest the other day which forced me to stop and think for a while. When I look back, I it's not the mistakes I've made that have upset me, but the mistakes that weren't made. Twenty years from now, forty years from now, I want to look back and see a colorfully lived life filled with oceans and colorful sunsets dotted with colorful people, artwork and architecture. I'd like to see some of my dreams come true and that won't happen without taking a chance, without risk. I'd like to do this for myself and for my children so that they too will learn to embrace the risk because I truly believe that with risk comes reward.