What do you consider risky? 

A harrowing late-night brush with Death in 2018 changed Andrea Green's life forever. Since then, she's related to risk very differently and lives with even more guts, gusto, and abandon as a result. 

This episode will challenge your relationship with risk. And I hope it will encourage you to change your relationship with it, too. 

 

Meet Andrea

Andrea lives in Truckee, California, where her life and work reflect her passion for adventure, travel, and the outdoors. She works for Jones snowboards and owns a freelance marketing and graphic design business on the side. With her Australian Shepherd adventure buddy, Chip, Andrea loves snowboarding, mountain biking, split-boarding, hiking, running, and anything else that allows her to explore new places. 

This episode is dedicated to Theo, Andrea's best friend and beloved canine companion who didn't survive that fateful night back in 2018--which is where we picked up the story…

 

Life Changes Forever

To avoid traffic and get there more quickly, Andrea decided to drive through the night to Oregon from Steamboat Springs, CO to visit her family. Around 1:00am, a drunk driver swerved into her lane and hit her head-on. 

Andrea was trapped in the car for two hours as EMS personnel worked to extricate her. At one point, the car burst into flames. Another driver had a fire extinguisher in his car and saved Andrea from the inferno. 

As Andrea waited to be freed from the car, she listened as Theo took his last breath next to her. 

Andrea broke her ankle, femur, tailbone, back, wrist, and collarbone, and she lost four of six total pints of blood volume due to lacerations. She went into surgery that night, spent 4 days in ICU, two weeks in the hospital, and nine months recovering at home with her family. She’s since had 5 more surgeries–the most recent just weeks before we recorded this episode. Four years later, the accident is still very much with her. 

 

Highlights from Our Conversation

• How to resist the temptation to play the Victim card
• The personal power that comes from focusing only on what you can control and leaving the rest alone
• The perils of staying in your comfort zone 
• Rethinking risk to gain the reward of a life that you love

 

Making it Matter for You

Pause for a moment. I mean really pause. Let the swirl of life continue to swirl around as you quiet your heart and mind. Now, search within yourself for something that you want to do or even know you need to do that feels risky to you. I'm confident that ALL of us can come up with something. How risky is it, really? With the hard-won perspective born of a close personal encounter with Mortality, the loss of her best friend, and the physical and emotional trial that ensued, Andrea challenged us all to not let fear be the thing that gets in the way of what we want or need to do. Are you willing to borrow a page from Andrea's playbook and go for it?

I am. In fact, after recording this episode, I decided to declare 2022 a year of boldness. A year to pull the trigger on the things I've been dragging my feet on or shrinking back in fear from. A year to experience the real-world consequences of risks taken rather than suffer the diminishment that occurs when I don't take the risk and can only wonder what might have happened if I had. You heard it here, and you can hold me to it. 

Back to you and the risk you have in mind. What's just one thing you're willing and able to do TODAY in the direction of that risk? Whatever your answer is...do it. 

Life is SHORT. There is no Tomorrow--only Today. 

Remember, you ARE going to die. But you’re not dead yet. So get after it!

How are you changing your relationship with risk? Shoot me a note on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, visit my website, or email me. 

 

Connect with Andrea

Email | Instagram | Website 

 

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If You Liked This Episode, I Think You’ll Like These, Too

• Ep. 005 | How to Become the Boss of Your Fear: Bravery-building to Live With More Guts and Gusto
• Ep. 006 | The Nine Lives of Lise Leroux: One Woman's Mind-blowing Tale of Living With a Terminal Diagnosis
• Ep. 016 | The Question That Changes Everything: The Go-to Tool for Living the Life You Were Made to Live
• Ep. 047 | Victim to Victor: How to Take Responsibility for Your Own Happiness
• Ep. 050 | Seize the Offensive: An Antidote to Fear, Dread, and Timid Living