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  • Anything worth doing in life has risk.

  • That's been my observation.

  • If you want to learn to walk, like most of us

  • did when we were little, that had risk.

  • When I was learning to walk, when

  • I was just a little over a year old, I fell.

  • We were living in an apartment that had a concrete floor.

  • I fell and banged my head on the floor

  • and actually cracked my skull.

  • But I needed to learn to walk.

  • And even though no one had explained it to me,

  • even at that stage, biology and evolution and the world

  • around me had put me in a position

  • where learning to walk, which is dangerous, was worth doing.

  • As an astronaut, that sort of becomes your life.

  • You say, this is a dangerous job.

  • Flying a rocket ship kills people.

  • Flying the jet aircraft that we use

  • to train to fly rocket ships--

  • that kills people.

  • We've had people die underwater training to do spacewalks.

  • It's a dangerous profession.

  • But much like learning to walk or learning

  • to ride a bike, if you can gain this skill,

  • if you can do this thing, then maybe those risks

  • are worth taking.

  • And in my case, I decided a long time ago

  • that exploring the rest of the universe

  • was worth taking a risk for.

  • To me, that's a worthy thing.

  • I'm willing to change who I am.

  • I'm not just a person who is blindly taking a risk.

  • But I am, instead, a calculating,

  • thinking human who is trying to do something that we haven't

  • done before and figure out how I can defeat the risk, how I can

  • beat the danger and put us in a new place,

  • get to that new place safely, come out the other side

  • without a cracked head.

  • I like what that does, actually, in that if you say, "I'm

  • going to take a risk because it's worth it",

  • that changes your part.

  • You aren't a spectator.

  • You're not a passenger.

  • You are now part of the process by which you're

  • going to defeat that risk.

  • You don't have to feel afraid.

  • Instead, you can sort of feel, like,

  • motivated to solve the problems.

  • You're part of this thing, trying to make this happen.

  • So that when I walk out to a rocket ship

  • and I'm about to get in, I know it's dangerous.

  • I've been thinking about the danger of it

  • for years and years.

  • But I no longer have to feel afraid.

  • That's not the only defense mechanism that I have.

  • I've been working on this thing so long,

  • and my job has not been to sit there and cross my fingers

  • and hope.

  • My job is now to pilot this thing, or at least

  • to be part of the flight crew on board,

  • and safely defeat the risk, get out the other side of it

  • with success.

  • And I sort of treat everything in my life that way.

  • What is it that I think is worth doing?

  • What are the risks involved?

  • And how can I address the actual risks

  • so that I can achieve the things that I think are important?

  • No astronaut launches for space with their fingers crossed.

  • That's not how we deal with risk.

  • We don't just take it as somebody else's problem.

  • We are ready to confront the risk head on and recognize

  • that there is a difference between danger and fear.

  • They're not synonymous.

  • So many people ask--

  • because in English, it's sort of crept in--

  • oh, that must be a scary thing.

  • And things aren't scary.

  • People are scared.

  • It's different.

  • The thing is just the thing.

  • Whether you choose to be scared--

  • some people are afraid of spiders.

  • Some people are afraid of mirrors.

  • Some people are afraid of open spaces, confined spaces.

  • But that's just your reaction to a thing that exists.

  • You can choose to be afraid or not.

  • And if it makes you afraid, why?

  • Why does this make me fearful?

  • Maybe there's a danger there I shouldn't be confronting.

  • I am never going to be a tightrope walker.

  • To me, there's so much danger in walking down

  • a tightrope and so little benefit to getting

  • across the tightrope that it's not a risk I'm willing to take.

  • It's a real danger.

  • I can feel the fear of doing it, and the fear

  • warns me that this is a danger that I don't

  • want to subject myself to.

  • But there's lots of other risks in life

  • that I do think are worthwhile.

  • And the real, I think, important step in life

  • is to identify, what are the risks worth taking?

  • If they do make you afraid, why?

  • Because that's probably an indicator

  • that you haven't learned how to do what it is you

  • need to do yet.

  • And then start changing who you are.

  • Gain your skill.

  • The best antidote for fear is competence.

  • If you can make yourself competent,

  • then you're not just relying on fear,

  • but you're actually a person who can do this thing.

  • And if you're competent, then not only can you do this thing,

  • but you can relax while you're doing it.

  • You can look around.

  • You can notice how cool this thing is.

  • This dangerous thing that's happening, I got this.

  • I know how to do this thing.

  • I am not just a chihuahua shaking away,

  • hoping that this problem will disappear without killing me.

  • Instead, you're a functioning, thriving

  • human being in the middle of something amazing,

  • and you have turned yourself into somebody

  • who can truly appreciate it.

  • To me, that's how you should deal with risk.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

Anything worth doing in life has risk.

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