📙 Part 2: Describe a risk you've taken, which had a positive result

This episode's vocabulary

To stay the course (phrase) - to continue doing something until it is finished or until you achieve something you have planned to do.

To contract (verb) - to catch or become ill with a disease.

To keep the lights on (phrase) - to make sure that a business, system, etc. continues to operate, even if it does not make much progress.

Mixed bag (noun) - a diverse assortment of things or people.

Appallingly (adv.) - to a horrifying or shocking degree.

To get back on track (phrase) - to return to the right path, or the right direction.

To call it quits (phrase) - to decide to abandon an activity or venture.

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Questions and Answers

Maria: Rory will describe a risk he's taken, which had a positive result. He will say: what it was, why he took it, what the result was and how he felt about it.

Rory:  So I'm going to talk about the decision I made to stay in Russia during the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Obviously, we're living through the main part of it now. At the time, people were heading home to batten down the hatches and wait out the crisis. And it seemed like I would be pushed into similar direction. But I chose instead to stay the course and remain in Russia. It's understandable why different people made the decisions to leave. We were all worried that we could have contracted the virus and been killed. But obviously we make different decisions for different reasons. And the reason I took the decision I did was because I had a life here, and I had a lot of friends here, and at the time I had my partner here, and it was my hope that if I stayed behind with a few people, we could keep the lights on so that people could come back to the school I worked at once everything was over.

It seemed rather foolish to give all that up, even though things were, sort of, falling apart around us and things were in quite a difficult space. In terms of the results, I think, it was a rather mixed bag because obviously since then I haven't been home in quite a while. We managed to stay at the school we were at as well, although I question if it was worth saving in the first place, given how appallingly they behave in terms of treating their staff now, however, there's nothing I can do that now. On the flip side, I managed to build a new business and I finished my latest book and I started a new job and got my life back on track. So there's lots of positive sides to this. Some people said I should have gone, but ultimately I firmly believe it was the right choice and I feel quite confident I made the right decision. I was able to help more people than I could have if I'd called it quits, for example. I appreciate not everyone had such a privilege of being able to choose, although the ability to decide for yourself comes with its own consequences and pressures. And I think I've accepted those with the positive aspects of my choice as well.

Maria: And what about your friends? Did they think that it was a positive result?

Rory: Almost all of my friends supported my decision.