Why is taking risks important in life?

I don’t think taking risks soley for the purpose of taking a risk is good. I think following your dreams despite there being a risk is good.

Yes, people take less risks as they get older. Before you’re 18 for women, or 24 for men, you don’t have what’s called “Action to Consequence”, meaning the ability to really grasp the possible consequences of your actions, especially before you do them. This is why we send the young off to be soldiers; they can kill people and then go have a beer and have it not be a big thing.

If you don’t take risks and try opportunities outside your comfort zone you won’t find new interests or meet new people. Taking risks can be nerve wracking but if you go for it and accomplish what you thought you could never do. You will feel so good inside =)

“Risks” is a broad term. Taking a risk is an action without full knowledge of the outcome. We need to take risks to grow, it’s the only way we try anything new.

Toddlers take risks with steps and touching things. They learn that hot is hot and cold is cold, that if you pull on something it will fall off the table. Adolescents take risks to find out if that girl or boy is interested in them. Kids take risks to choose going to college far from home.

As we grow older, we choose which risks we can take, which are beyond our reach at the time but may pursue later, and which we’ll try right now.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained is not just a cliche, it describes the emotional investment that makes us more complete people.

I agree with @MyNewtBoobs and @zenvelo. I think it important to challenge ourselves and to make the most of new opportunities and sometimes this will involve taking risks. However, I think in those circumstances, we should be taking calculated risks. We should have weighed up the pros and cons and then decided attempting the change is worth taking a risk.

We have less to lose when we are younger. We may not have have the responsibilities we have when we are older. In my early 20s, I could pick up my life and move countries because I had no property, I had a good job but was sure I would get another, and my SO could move with me. Now, I have children, property, a partner who has commitments here and it would be very hard to make such a drastic change. I do think though that even as we age we shouldn’t become stagnant and not try out new opportunities. I think we need to take carefully considered risks to continue to grow and learn.

There should be a very thick line drawn between taking a risk in order to stretch your comfort zone and doing something really stupid.

The more you risk, the greater your potential gain. How much you risk depends on how risk-averse you are, among other things.

Risks are the currency of life! I would not have 2 wonderful boys had I not taken that “risk” ;)

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

@Pied_Pfeffer Dead Poets Society talks about that—the difference between “daring” and “stupid.” Risks that help us grow and create new experiences are daring… risks that have little chance for productive consequences are stupid. I love the class discussions I have on this topic!
I think many older people take less risks because they have more ‘bad experiences’ to draw their fears from. They see a new situation, but then they remember other situations that they went through or saw someone go through that turned out poorly, and assume a new situation’s the same. They evaluate each new situation by the past, not on its own merits. With the concept of ‘fear’, many 30-somethings I know around where I live are immensely concerned about doing the “right thing” according to society (right way to raise kids, right way to buy houses, right way to decorate a living room, right way to host events, right jobs to have, etc) To me, it’s all fear-based when they don’t take risks to define their lives the way that’s ‘right’ for them and them alone.
When I got pregnant, I decided to be an independent mother (as opposed to a unwed mother). It was a choice that I made consciously and it was a huge, huge risk that I’ve never regretted—and one of the life lessons I hold on to even today—sometimes the biggest risks make the best paths. Sometimes it really pays to go against the grain! :D

Life, on the physical world playing field is setup as a game. It helps me to view life in a different way and like sports, life is meant to be fast, challenging, and with achievable rewards and of course there are also penalties, otherwise a lot of us would get bored to the max and have no game and not much of a life.

Because our environment changes.