The pandemic has been a course in weighing risk and benefits for all of us, and we all have weighed those risks and benefits in somewhat different ways. This risk weighing differential has also been the source of conflict at times.
How do you weigh the risks? How do you deal with the conflice that arises at times when people weigh the risks differently?
When it comes to weighing the risks, I usually take the following approach.
- study the subject by reading articles, talking to others
- weigh the pros and cons with a simple pros vs cons list
- make the best choice on my own or with others.
The holiday gatherings this year found our family weighing the risks since the Omicron variant was gaining traction and viral spread was increasing. None of us wanted to get sick and we also didn't want to spend another holiday with few to no loved ones--we desired some good cheer, camaraderie and joy so this is what we did:
- Everyone was vaccinated and boosted--this gave us a sense of security.
- We avoided most events where we didn't know people's vaccination status, and masked up for daily chores that placed us in public spaces for short amounts of time.
- We gathered with small groups of family members inside.
We weighed the risk and benefits with health as a first priority and family as a second priority. Our risk/reward analysis ended up with some of us contracting COVID which likely occurred due to some who did attend events with people who may or may not have been vaccinated. Yet, because we were all vaccinated and boosted, there were either no symptoms or fairly mild symptoms. No one ended up in the hospital and all are well. I do believe it was worth our family gathering at the holiday as well as worth missing some of the larger gatherings we were invited to attend.
In life, we are often weighing the risks and rewards of any choice or plans we make. Every time we take a drive, fly on a plane, visit a new place and engage in a new activity we weight the risks and rewards.
This risk/reward analysis also happens all the time as you care for your loved ones. When do you interfere with your adult children's or other relatives' choices and when do you stay quiet? I always think about the front page news when I consider this. If I think a loved one is making a decision that can result in the kind of harm that lands on the front page news, I'll speak up and/or act, but if it's a situation where a small error could occur, but not an error that will harm or hurt a life, then I'll often stay quiet and see how things turn out because it's hard to predict how many choices will turn out since I'm not that person and I don't know about all the factors involved in the situation.
Weighing the risk/rewards of life's choices is a common practice for all of us, and it's a practice that demands our good thought and time. If we generally do the good work in this regard, we'll mostly make good decisions, and when we err, our errors will likely not be too bad. Onward.