The overhead sign, on the way into Charleston, on Tuesday, read 630 traffic fatalities in South Carolina during 2016. As we left on Sunday, the sign read 645. During my vacation, 15 lives ended and countless families were altered forever.
The statistics lead us to believe that it will never happen to us, and it is a longshot. We don't want our turn. However, over a lifetime, the odds are against us, and an accident will touch our lives.
When the U.S. Powerball lottery topped $1.6B, the odds of winning were one in 292.2 million. Finally, I am ready to announce publicly, drum roll please... one of my five tickets was not the winner. Yep, nada, bupkiss, nothing, zero and squat is what I took from the winnings; but it was fun to dream for a day.
The statistics lead us to believe that it will never happen to us, and it is a longshot. We do want our turn. However, over a lifetime, the odds are against us, and you won't win the lottery.
Yet, we spend time dwelling on the horrific, and terrific things that can occur in our lives that are outside our influence.
What about those things that are within our influence? When is it your turn?
Society, family and internal expectations influence our belief about when it is our turn to follow our dreams, make an impact on the world or take a risk. Most often all these influences will scream "be safe" and "don't take any risk." The safe, secure job with good benefits is the best option, and for goodness sake, "forget those crazy ideas of making a significant impact."
Seth Godin provides a clear answer in the title of his last book, What To Do When It's Your Turn (and it's always your turn). Seth encourages the reader, you and me, to decide it is our turn and not wait to be picked.
Choosing to take your turn, requires bravery. The world will most likely ignore the ideas keeping you up at night and in the worst case, will hate them. This doesn't mean to pass on your turn; it is yours, and it is waiting.