The Coronavirus has given many us an opportunity to pause and think about life, our purpose, and even the right work life balance. What’s your perspective and has it changed over time?

Genna Calkins-Mushrush | Heirloom Quilter, Public Librarian

For me, the role of risk taking revolves around the concept that every choice or decision that I make in life involves risk. Whether I’m making a career decision, a relationship decision, or simply deciding where to hike or backpack one weekend, every choice is about calculated risk. I would not consider myself a risk taker, per say, but my relationship with calculated risk has led me to Tanzania with the Peace Corps, to uproot and disrupt a secure future in order to pursue new experiences with my family in Colorado, and to the summits of numerous mountains, including Kilimanjaro. Read more>>

Danny Daggers | Tattoo Artist & Illustrator

I believe that risk is a inherent part of life. Every time we board an airplane, operate a vehicle, or step outside the security of our own environment, or circumstance in any way we open ourselves to a variety of potential consequence. As human beings our individual, and collective desires repeatedly bring us face to face with certain physical, and/or psychological thresholds that we are required to pass through, or rise above in order to realize our truest potential. As a craftsman/artisan, and creative professional, I feel that “risk” has always been a consistent, and perhaps necessary part of my journey through life. Read more>>

Chris Aunan | Entrepreneur and Structural Engineer

If I start a business, I am risking putting myself in a financially difficult position should everything fall apart. On the otherhand, if I don’t risk starting my own business, I am risking that I work an 8-5 and retire at the age of 65 without having seen or done half the things I want to do. The latter sounds far worse to me. I’m young. If the business fails you can recover. But you can never get back time lost. Life is all about risk. Be bold and take the steps forward that 99% of people won’t take. Read more>>

Angie Torres Jimenez | Tattoo Artist

I often see risk as an opportunity. It is not an easy thing to be commited to the everyday-routine to then being presented with a risk and wonder whether it’s good or not for you to take the opportunity. There have been times in life where I have wondered if I’ve taken the right decision when changing my life career choices and often I question myself about those times because most of the time I would pick what would make more sense “realistically” I guess according to the rest of the people but me, however, as years have passed by and opportunites have presented, I have come to realize that the best decicions I have taken have been the ones that I would pick out of a benefit for me, whether that is a financial one or something that I think would make me more happy; those are the risks worth taking, the ones that will make you the most content, or the less dissapointed in life. Read more>>

Emily Garcia | Therapist

My husband and I traveled to Iceland a few years ago and went on a glacier tour. During the tour, we had the chance to repel down a cavern and then use an ice pick to climb back up. I was absolutely terrified, but knew that if I didn’t do it, I would wonder why I hadn’t taken the chance. So, I pushed past my fear and did it. I am so grateful because it was a wonderful experience and I increased my confidence in my own abilities. Anytime there is a risk that I can take, I consider the following: If I were at the end of my life, would I regret not having taken the risk? In my business, I approach things the same way. Of course, I weigh the cost if something goes right vs if something goes wrong. Read more>>

Scott Runyon | Physical Therapist

The biggest thing for me was how risky it became to not start my own business. I was risking spending my whole career making money for somebody else. Not being able to spend the time I wanted with my loved ones. Not being able to treat patients the way that I wanted and that they deserved. All of that sounded terrible to me. Read more>>

Mel Afflerbach | Entrepreneur, International Yoga Instructor, Podcaster, & Wellness Consultant

The idea of risk taking to me always had some sort of fearful and negative connotation around it. There were always consequences with a risk, right? The risk of loosing, getting hurt, or the feeling of regret. What if “risk” meant opportunity. I had to reprogram my brain that taking risks were exciting and could create some amazing opportunities. We get to a crossroad of “do I stay where I’m at in my life even if that means I am unhappy or feel stuck,” OR “do I rip this security ban aide off and jump into this next chapter?” That crossroad seems risky, right? The average, grounded person probably isn’t going to just jump in. So, I created some tools to help reprogram my thoughts around risks and those tools helped me create big and successful changes in my life, my relationships, and my career. Read more>>

Chris Turner | Denver Real Estate Agent

Regarding the idea of risk within our general Western society, there really is only two ways you’re told to look at it: Outweighing the Benefit vs (Negative) Consequence I try to look at risk as an opportunity. Throughout my personal and professional life, I have never been squeamish with the thought of risk, mostly because I have made myself tolerable to it over time. Much like in the scene from “Princess Bride” where our hero defeats Vizzini in the test of wits by poisoning both goblets with the deadly iocaine powder that he had grown a tolerance to over the many years prior. To compare, I have treated risk as my personal iocaine powder over the years, so to speak. Read more>>

Alli Widman | Founder & CEO

Risk is important to progress and innovation. For me, it has often been easier to maintain the status quo, but taking risks and navigating the associated uncertainty enable me to spark change. Business school case studies and podcasts featuring entrepreneurs have demonstrated the need to accept risk to make great leaps forward. For me, calculating risks and preparing for them has been key to taking risks to enrich my life and advance my career. Having a strong support network personally and professionally has also been essential to my risk-taking. Read more>>

Sean Peters | Owner of Peak View Brewing Company

Taking risks has been a concept I have had to familiarize myself with from a young age. At 17, my parents moved to Florida, requiring me to take a risk and live on my own to finish high school as well as work a job to support myself. This specific risk had me living in my Jeep, working as much as possible, and scraping by to be able to survive. However, this experience taught me a lot about self reliance and it gave me skills to be able to problem solve and generally how to be an adult. After high school, I needed some stability as my current situation was not working well, so it led me to take another risk and join the Air Force Reserve. The Air Force taught me attention to detail, a strong work ethic, and the mindset that failure is not an option and if you put your mind to something you are passionate about, it is always possible. Read more>>

Leigh DiFulvio | Abstract Artist and Mental Health Advocate

I struggle with anxiety, and so risk taking is something that doesn’t come easy for me. However, I think it’s an essential part of growth. Recently, I took a personal risk by deciding to open up about my mental health and how it affects my art making. To me, this was a risk because there unfortunately is still a stigma around mental health issues and it’s not something openly talked about. I’ve had people tell me to “be careful about over-sharing” or that what I say could be used against me. Or, I’m also afraid that people may misinterpret my openness with attention-seeking, or looking for pity. Read more>>

Dillon Batalo | Optometrist & Content Creator

Fresh out of optometry school in 2015 I was so eager to jump into my career and finally start making money and stop living like a student. For a good portion of my first year out I was working 6 days a week before moving to a more traditional 5 day/week schedule. As of 2021, I have actually cut back to working 4 days a week which has seriously been a game changer for work/life balance and happiness. I’m really able to enjoy so many more aspects of life such as hobbies, friendships, relationships, and time with family. Burnout in medicine (and really any job), is so prevalent now that I think people are open to moving away from grinding away at our jobs and instead looking to work a little less to be able to get to enjoy more out of life and the things that really matter. Life really is such a gift and is so easy to take for granted, so cutting back on work just that little bit has hugely improved my overall quality of life. Read more>>

Andreas Kremer | Artist & Designer

During my life my balance between work and life has changed drastically. Ive always been quite the extremist no matter what I was into. I quite often found myself getting obsessed over things, especially those things I enjoy. As a kid I discovered skateboarding and quickly found myself riding every single day no matter what, it was the only thing I could think about. My life quickly evolved entirely around skateboarding. As I grew older and began thinking about what I was going to make my career I started taking more art classes in high school because that was the only subject that really interested me. After taking a class on digital art and discovering I could get paid to design graphics I was all in. Read more>>

Norah Charles, MSOM, L.Ac. | Owner, Boulder Acupuncture and Herbs

When I started Boulder Acupuncture and Herbs, I was like most small business owners: I needed to reach new clients, right away. The success of a business like mine, where people come in to address a specific problem and, hopefully, resolve that problem, means that I need a constant flow of new clients to keep my schedule full. The tension between doing the real, one-on-one work of being an acupuncturist, plus the demand of marketing to new clients, greatly impacted my work-life balance. Even when I had clients, I was worried about reaching my next patient. Read more>>

Mario y Gladis Garcia | Fedora hat designers

The balance is very important for sure! but sometimes we can’t keep it. As a new entrepreneurs is not easy because we need to learn how to divide our time in family, home, fun, and our dream. It sounds like a piece of cake but keeping the balance is serious work! Read more>>

Devyn Mata | Creative Entrepreneur

I believe that we all struggle finding a work life balance. It’s so easy for us to say “Oh, I don’t have the time.”, or “I’m too busy.”, but in reality those are just excuses. I’m one to admit that I’ve used those same excuses in the past. However, over time those excuses pile up and overflow to the point where they take control. It’s about delegating tasks throughout the day and deciding whether they are a priority or not. I had to evaluate my goals, arrange my schedule, and even make sacrifices. Read more>>