This article is about of daring greatly takes courage. With all the crazy weather, the shooting tragedies and the stress and strain of the holidays, I thought it was the perfect time to get us all inspired and out of our fears and worries. What better way than to DARE GREATLY.
In her new book, researcher professor, Brené Brown explains how the concept of“scarcity thrives in a culture where everyone is hyper-aware of lack and fear.”
That causes us to spend unreasonable amounts of time calculating how much we have, want and don’t have, and how much everyone else has, needs and wants.
The only way to get past our obsession of comparing and calculating is to let go of our fear and take on with the world from a place of worthiness.
After all the craziness that has gone on lately, I’d say the one thing that will help heal the nation is to, as Dr. Breen says “dare greatly.” Get past the national conversation centering on ‘What should we fear?’ and ‘Who should we blame?’
We all want to be brave.
What does it mean to “dare greatly”?
The phrase ‘Daring Greatly’ is from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, Citizenship in a Republic.
This is the passage that made the speech famous:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly . . .”
This is true courage and openness to being vulnerable.
According to Professor Brown, “Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understanding the necessity of both; it’s engaging. It’s being all in…”
Being perfect and bulletproof are seductive, but they don’t exist in the human experience.
In sports and in life, we all must walk into the field, the court, or the arena, wherever it may be with courage and the willingness to engage.
I love how she says, “Rather than sitting on the sidelines and hurling judgment and advice, we must dare to show up and let ourselves be seen. This is vulnerability. This is daring greatly.”
What are your plans to “show up” differently – to “dare greatly” in the year to come? Let us know in the comments below…I’d love to hear!
Wendy Lynne, Director of Mental Toughness Academy