I’m the a moon’s distance away from a being a pro athlete or pushing any adventure sports field I participate in, but I do things for fun that some people think are insanely dangerous. I’ve toned it back now that I have kids (which changed my thinking) but for a long time I would have been quite happy with that exit from life. Doing something I loved, never put through indignity of advanced age, dying quickly and without suffering.
I used to walk across pitched roofs 3-floors up as a teen, and squeeze between cars and busses on my bike in narrow london roads (back before bike lanes were a thing) to the point that I would routinely get to my job with bloodied knuckles.
At the time I was clearly just vibing off the adrenaline, but looking back on it all as mature adult... I get heart palpatations.
There are many parallel worlds where I am not alive, and I think of those other selves often.
I feel like humans must be naturally better at surviving these things when young. I see kids doing this stuff every day. Not walking on pitched roofs, but plenty of other stuff that could get them killed if something goes wrong.
My risk habits have a rather low chance of dying per injury event, but life changing injury isn't all that rare. I do occasionally see myself envying those with a risk profile that's more on the binary end of the spectrum: where it's either a clean end or everything is fine.
God speed Felix