What are the chances?
It takes about 1 billion sperm to fertilize one egg and a woman produces about 2 million eggs in her lifetime. Think about it – odds are really stacked against your very existence. The fact that you are the result of that one sperm and that one egg connecting to produce you and not someone else is astronomical. The odds of being killed on the highway, as the years and miles rack up, portend greater exposure to an early demise. Yet, we commute daily without giving much thought to the risks involved in traveling on the highway. But, that is because we are in control and believe we can exercise sufficient control to avoid situations that lead to accidents. For the most part, we move through life feeling confident that we will succeed.
But that very first instance of contact by the sperm with the egg that produced the unique “you” was out of our conscious control. Maybe subconsciously, that early unlikely outcome fosters insecurity later during our lives when we are confronting change. From a different perspective, you have already beaten incredible odds just being alive! Being born was better than winning the lottery. I am not a statistician ( and I am sure I will get some comments, to that effect, critical of my observations) but it seems that you should be grateful just to be alive. Everything is uphill from there.
As they say, “You can’t fall off the floor!” Look how far you have come by just being alive? What do you have to loose taking risks in your practice? All the time you have on this earth is a gift and risk is relative. Celebrate your life and change up your practice if you find yourself stalled or unhappy with your current practice model. Take on a new young associate and let him or her show you a different path. Encourage creative thinking and experiment. You have little time on this earth to leave your legacy. Make it one that celebrates the improbable you.
Bottom line, you are lucky to be alive in the first place! All of the potentially catastrophic events that follow your birth, and put you at risk of an early death, pale in comparison to the risk that you would not be born in the first place. All of the changes that you make in your life, in your practice, in your approach to life should be carefully thought out and measured. But they should not limit your ability to grow and expand your horizons. They are limitless and you are very lucky to be able to have life choices at all. Give thanks and move on to greater things and take advantage of the gift of life that has been given you.