My husband and I recently decided to try out camping with a travel trailer. We rented a great little T@B Teardrop trailer, hitched it to our truck, and made our way to the resort town of Parker, Arizona. We chose Parker for a couple of reasons, one being that it is a flat route to get there. We left a little later than expected due to work commitments but made it through rush hour and found ourselves cruising along I-10 into the sunset. Renting a travel trailer comes with risks but knowing you have done everything to prevent something from going wrong, I felt confident along our way.
That was, until we started heading into what looked to be a massive summer monsoon storm. A large dust wall formed, and we headed into some periods of torrential rain, but I knew before my phone alerted me that our biggest challenge would be flash flooding. We continued west on the 2-lane highway that is notorious for a lot of semi traffic and rolling dips on the road. We came up to our first pass at cross a water filled wash. We took it slow and continued this pattern until we came upon one that now had rushing water. Again, we made it through only to come to a wash that had traffic stopped.
We pulled over, got out and saw that the water was rushing like a river across the road and sheriff had traffic stopped on the other side. Although it caused us to be delayed another hour, I was so grateful for that sheriff stopping traffic because at night, it is difficult to see just how deep or dangerous the water is.
Fortunately, after an hour, the water started to recede and even though the sheriff was still stopped on the other side, we passed only after two Harley riders made their way across successfully.
This morning, I started thinking more about that scenario of “what if’s”. What if that sheriff was not there, would we have tried to cross? Would the trailer fill with water?
Everything we do in life and in business comes with risk. It is how we approach, assess, and mitigate those risks that make the difference between achieving your goals or getting swept away.
If you don’t acknowledge the risk, it is hard to assess and plan to reduce or eliminate the risk