Do you always play it safe? We all have our personal risk profiles. Some people climb mountains without safety ropes, while others won’t climb more than two steps up a ladder. Being very careful to follow all the recommendations might be a good strategy in a pandemic, but being over-cautious also means you miss out on opportunities.
Researchers in the UK have found that teaching children chess made them more willing to take prudent risks. In chess, you need to be able to take prudent risks and sacrifice a piece to gain a decisive advantage. Chess was a safe environment for the children to experiment with risk – the worst thing that could happen was that they lost the game.
If you are being over-cautious in your life, find some place where you can practice taking small risks. You might even take up chess.