Daring Greatly

     "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, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
   ~Theodore Roosevelt

I had never heard this quote, until I watched a lecture on TED talks. Something the speaker said really made me think about the way I think about myself, and to myself. She said, "It's seductive to stand outside the arena and think to myself I'm gonna go in there and kick some ass, when I'm bullet proof, and when I'm perfect. But the truth is, that never happens."

I was thinking about how this applies to my training. How could I ever improve, if I never tried because I was afraid of failure. I think about some of the people I know from home, and also some of the people I've met here, and how much they hold themselves back because they're afraid. And also how often I've held myself back for the same reasons. It was a great talk, I'm posting the link.

http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.html