Kelli Fox - Thought #3 - In it for the Risk

Hi, it's February 7, it's Kelli Fox again, and this is thought #3.   So, I was at the theatre yesterday morning for the first day of rehearsal for the company of US. New Canadian musical, everybody's pumped, tons of excitement in the room. And Wes Pearce, the designer, was giving his presentation, he's talking about how they got where they got with it, and he just happened to mention, in passing, that this project might push some boundaries for some people here. He didn't make a big statement, but he reminded everyone that what they were about to embark on was risky, and it was like everyone's nerve endings came alive. There was this kind of collective inhalation of kind of giddy, terrified anticipation, because, of course, it's what we all live for. Our work might matter enough to cause a bit of a stir in town, get people talking, get them angry, or get them animated. Alternatively,  we could bore them. But we don't know until we take the risk, and for some reason, for a lot of us, the scarier the proposition, the bigger the risk, the more irresistible the challenge. I've heard so many of my friends say, "I had to say yes, it scared the crap out of me." It's like the opposite of risk aversion. Risk perversion. That's what I'm thinking about today.