Since January I’ve been thinking a lot about courage. It’s a topic that comes up in the Insight into Action group coaching program. It’s also a topic that underlies many individual coaching conversations.
If you read Brené Brown’s work or listen to any of her talks, you’ll soon discover that, according to the research, you can’t be courageous without being vulnerable. And vulnerability is the “uncertainty, risk, or emotional exposure” we experience when we step into new territory.
Just writing that sentence stirs up my stomach. Uncertainty. Risk. Emotional exposure. Scary words. They also resonate.
In her book Daring Greatly, Brené Brown quotes an excerpt from a speech Theodore Roosevelt delivered in 1910.
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.
To be courageous is to “dare greatly.” Dare to speak up. Or, in the case of a client recently, dare to listen. There is the daring to take on a new job. It can be daring to say, for the first time, “I love you.” It takes courage to be a parent. It takes courage to admit, “I don’t know.”
Stepping into the arena doesn’t get any easier. At least not for me.
In the past two years I’ve stepped into several arenas: self-employment and business building, collaboration with young entrepreneurs, speaking in front of a group, using Instagram, writing.
Tonight (August 18, 2021) I’m stepping into a new arena. I’ve applied to deliver a one-minute speech in a “speak off.” It’s scary to anticipate speaking in front of a 100+ member online audience. But the only way to develop my speaking skills and spread the word about leading with courage, compassion, and integrity is to step into the arena.
So I’m going to step into the arena and practice courage!