After experiencing extreme circumstances, people perceive the world around them differently; especially in terms of how they assess risk and their attitudes towards risk. In this paper, I study risk preference categorized as risk aversion (studied under the case of 9/11) and risk avoidance (studied under the case of COVID-19). Under risk aversion, a short-term escalation in fear-motivated risk aversion was observed, but a behavioural equilibrium was established as soon as three months afterwards. In the case of risk avoidance, there was a significant relationship established between the level of improvement in life satisfaction after the global pandemic and both higher and lower risk instruments. There was also a natural display of loss aversion and a noticeable effect of socio-demographic factors on risk perception.