With or without ice?  I always hesitate when I hear this question, especially during summer. Without ice, you feel the taste better. If you add a cube of ice, you cool off your body, but lose the taste. Hard choice. Unfortunately, such is also life.

You cannot have ice, meaning the joy of the moment, the instant comfort and the drink at an optimal concentration, meaning balance and long-time stability. It is a permanent struggle between adventure, living life to the full and being careful, cautious, maybe even reserved. There are some who jump and jump, with the adrenaline to the maximum, where the risk to fail is as great; and when they get into trouble, you feel like telling them: “What were you expecting? The greater the crime, the higher the gallows! Bear the consequences”. On the other hand, others lose all the fun, they live more scared than joyful and seem to have aged before being young.

What’s the solution? How do you know you’re acting correctly?

“Take the risk, but be prepared to live with the consequences”, some would say. I prefer the motto “Don’t risk what you can’t afford to lose”.

What can’t you afford to lose? Life, for starters. So, don’t do great things just to see how far you can go by betting with your life. You are not the master of your life. You didn’t decide where, when and if you should come to this world.

Then, you don’t afford to lose your health. It only takes one a visit to the emergency room of the hospital or the recovery section to make you realize how fragile your health is. Don’t experiment on your body, don’t push its limits, don’t live dangerously, don’t use toxic substances, don’t indulge in vices affecting your health.

What else won’t you afford losing? Maybe financial stability. It can be interesting to take risks in business and I think you have a great adrenaline discharge when you gamble or bet, but can you really afford losing? Maybe you hope that you’ll win someday, but how much are you willing to lose until then? It’s not worth the risk to lose what you bet for the illusion of unimaginable winnings.

Do you afford to lose the trust and the friendship of those around you? Your family’s? Then why do you live dangerously when it comes to their feelings? Don’t allow yourself to say harsh words, to repay the good with something bad, to forget, ignore, break the hearts of those who adore you, just because it is entertaining to play with someone’s feelings.

And then, you don’t afford to lose yourself, your freedom. Don’t do whatever leads you to immoral actions, don’t join dangerous entourages just to feel justice breathing down your neck and hope you’ll get away with it.

I agree you can add a bit of ice in the soda glass that life offers you, but not that often and that much that you end up drunk on cold water and missing the essence. The joy of life does not consist of living at the maximum some moments and then struggling to get up. The joy of life comes from balance, sometimes from that routine that gives you stability. The sun doesn’t live dangerously… It does not set today to the West and tomorrow to the North, nor do the migrating birds begin their way to the warm countries later than it is to be done, just to test their limits.

Everything in this world has an order, a normal flow, a balance. Don’t force things! Be happy for what you have and don’t risk what you can’t afford losing. Some things, once lost, are gone forever!

We can live an abundant life using the qualities that God blessed us with. Wisdom is an important key to a Christian’s character: “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Proverbs 2:6).

Be wise!