How Expanding Your Thinking Changes Everything

By Shelly Cammish
Women Talk — powered by GreenWell Solutions

Welcome back to Women Talk — where real conversations meet real growth.

Today we’re talking about something that people either admire or avoid, and that is risk. Some people wear risk like a badge of honor, while others avoid it at all costs. What’s interesting is how quickly we label people based on how risky we perceive them to be. We say things like, “She’s a risk taker,” or “He’s conservative,” or “She plays it safe,” as if those labels fully define how someone operates in life.

Early in my career, I had a boss call me a risk taker. She meant it in a positive way, but it really made me stop and think. Do people see me as a risk taker? Do I see myself that way? Does that mean I’m more courageous or more willing to take chances? At the time, I thought it did. But then I started asking a different question: what if risk isn’t about bravery at all? What if it’s about something else entirely?

Have you ever stopped to consider what’s actually behind risk? Why some people are labeled as bold while others are seen as cautious? Where does our personal threshold for risk come from? And more importantly, how much of that threshold is real versus perceived?

What if risk has nothing to do with courage or willingness to take a leap? What if risk is really about how many options you can see?

Because once you begin to see more options, risk stops feeling like risk and starts feeling like a decision. It becomes something you choose, not something you fear.

Are You Really a Risk Taker?

That moment with my boss stayed with me because I genuinely didn’t see myself as someone who took big risks. I knew I wasn’t risk-averse, but I always described myself as someone who took calculated risks—things that felt within my control. And in my mind, that didn’t feel particularly risky.

When I think of risk takers, I think of people like Richard Branson, the kind of person who builds an airline from scratch or jumps out of planes for fun. That version of risk never felt like me. But that conversation forced me to reconsider how I defined risk.

What I realized is that risk is relative. It’s not about how extreme your actions look to other people, it’s about how your decisions align with what you believe is possible. If your belief system is expansive, your actions will naturally follow. Hope and optimism have always been strengths of mine, so belief has always played a large role in how I make decisions.

And that’s where the shift begins. Risk is not about the action itself, it’s about the lens through which you view the action.

Risk Is Really About Options

Here’s the idea I want you to sit with: risk-taking is not about being fearless, it’s about being aware of your options. The more options you see, the more willing you are to take action.

When you believe you only have one path, everything feels risky. You don’t see a way out if something doesn’t work. You hold on tighter, you tolerate more, and you avoid making moves that could disrupt what feels like your only option.

But when you believe you have multiple paths, nothing feels final. You don’t operate from fear, you operate from choice.

Think about this in real life. If you believe a job is your only option, you will stay longer than you should, tolerate more than you should, and avoid taking risks that could move you forward. But if you believe you have options—real options—you behave differently. You speak differently, you negotiate differently, and you make decisions from a place of confidence instead of scarcity.

The more choices you see, the less fear controls you.

Why Some People Take More Risks

So why do some people appear more comfortable taking risks than others? It’s not always because they’re braver. It’s often because their frame of reference is larger. They see more possibilities, and that expanded view allows them to do things that might feel impossible to someone else.

For me, that perspective came from experience. I went through a lot early in life that forced me to become resourceful and resilient. My mother struggled with alcoholism and left when I was young. My father, who had his own traumatic upbringing and couldn’t read or write, did what he could, but I ultimately found myself navigating life on my own at a very early age.

Those experiences forced me to find options when it felt like there were none. Failure wasn’t theoretical for me. Failure meant I didn’t eat, didn’t have a place to sleep, or put myself in unsafe situations just to survive. That reality forced me to think differently.

Instead of allowing those circumstances to limit me, I chose to expand my thinking. I made a decision that I wasn’t just going to survive, I was going to thrive. I began studying people who had the kind of life I wanted and adopted the traits that made sense. I took what was useful—discipline, resilience, optimism—and left behind what didn’t serve me, like resentment or bitterness.

If you want to operate at a higher level, you have to start thinking like people who already are.

The truth is, the more expansive your mind becomes, the less risk feels like risk. It becomes one of many options instead of something to fear.

When Your Thinking Becomes Narrow

Of course, we all experience moments where our thinking narrows. When your world feels small and your options feel limited, even small decisions can feel overwhelming. Everything starts to carry more weight, and everything feels more permanent than it actually is.

In those moments, people tend to stay where they are. Not because they lack courage, but because they lack visibility.

This is where one question can completely shift your thinking: “How do I know that to be true?”

That question forces you to step back and challenge your assumptions. It allows you to separate yourself from your thoughts and observe them more objectively. This is what’s known as metacognition—the ability to think about your thinking.

When you can observe your thoughts instead of being controlled by them, your perspective expands, and so do your options.

The Power of Perspective

Another important piece of this is how you respond to labels and feedback. When someone says something about you like “you’re smart,” “you’re a risk taker,” or “you’re a leader,” you have three choices.

You can accept it without question, reject it entirely, or you can pause and consider it. That third option is where growth happens.

When I was labeled a risk taker, I didn’t fully accept it, but I didn’t reject it either. I explored it. I tried it on. And what I found is that sometimes other people can see potential in us that we haven’t fully recognized ourselves.

If you’re open to that, it can expand not only how you see yourself, but how you show up in the world.

Why Risk Matters

This shift in perspective has real impact. Your willingness to take risks directly affects your career, your relationships, your confidence, and your ability to grow.

When you believe you have options, you don’t feel stuck. When one door closes, you don’t fall apart because you believe there are others. When a relationship ends, you don’t question your worth because you understand there are other paths available to you.

The same applies to feedback. Not every opinion is truth. It is someone’s perspective. If you hear the same feedback repeatedly, it’s worth exploring. But if it’s a one-off, you don’t need to carry it with you.

That level of discernment is power. That is resilience. And it all stems from believing you have options.

Final Thought

So here’s the question I want to leave you with: how much of your life are you limiting because you don’t realize you have options?

Everyone makes decisions based on what makes sense to them. So if you’re not taking risks, it’s not because something is wrong with you. It’s because, from your current perspective, that risk doesn’t make sense.

Yet.

But what if you expanded your thinking? What if you exposed yourself to new ideas, new environments, new people, and new perspectives? Because the more options you see, the more empowered you become. And when you feel empowered, you take action.

And when you take action, your life expands.

And suddenly, what once felt like risk… just feels like choice.

And remember:

Sometimes the biggest risk is believing you don’t have options.