I once read a quote that resonated deeply: "Any risk you try to avoid will quietly carve out a pit for you in places you can't see."

Choosing what seems to be the lowest-risk state-owned enterprise stable job, I faced the wave of layoffs due to SOE reforms;

Opting for the lowest-risk bank fixed income, only to find that the underlying assets were all real estate, and the assets collapsed along with the housing market;

When a company is at the bottom of the industry cycle and least likely to take on risks, it often doesn't expand but instead, when industry competition heats up, is forced into high-cost expansion or even out of the market;

Traders hesitate to act when the market crashes and uncertainty peaks, often only able to build positions painfully on the slopes or add to positions at the peak;

Human nature always tries to avoid "uncertainty" and pursues certainty; but in the process of seeking "certainty," we inadvertently expose ourselves to other types of risks that we haven't anticipated.

What is the solution? Anticipate risks and actively make choices, rather than avoiding risks and passively exposing yourself to risks you haven't foreseen.

What you actively choose is called cost; what you passively choose is called risk.