Peter Gwin A Mystery Of Taking Risk

When I was ten years old, I broke my arm at a skate park. I developed a fear of falling

and failure for six years. When I was sixteen, I was involved in competitive downhill racing. The

sport is notorious for skating at high speeds, crashes, injuries, and even death. Both my parents

prohibited me for attending these events, but the thrill of speed and danger encouraged me to

disobey my parents. I competed in the race, survived without any injuries, came into third place

and basked in the fulfillment of accomplishment. Risky situations are opportunities of success or

failure. There is a big difference between risk taking and being stupid. Risk taking is part of our

human legacy, we have the ability to learn how to become
A risk is a situation involving exposure to danger and the potential to lose or gain

something of value. So why do people choose to take risk, knowing that they can lose at any

moment. In his article “The Mystery of Risk” by Peter Gwin, says, “Some of the motivations for

taking risk are obvious-financial reward, fame, political gain and saving lives.” Risk takers such

The Success of Risk Taking

as fishermen, professional racers, rock climbers, gamblers and stuntmen know that taking risk

can lead to extraordinary success or extraordinary failure. Mr. Gwin suggests a biological

explanation for why certain people tend to take dangerous risk. Neurotransmitter dopamine is a

chemical that causes one to feel good. In a sense dopamine is a drug, it’s responsible for the high

we feel when we engage in something daring. In the risk taker's brain such as a daredevils brain,

are more saturated with the chemical, causing them to keep taking risks and chasing the next

high. Dopamine drives people into taking risk and they can also control the fear by getting use to

it.

Humans have the ability to control a fear by becoming used to a particular risk.