Getting in the arena & daring greatly

I have been practicing putting myself out there of late – taking risks and fully engaging in life in a way I didn’t when I weighed 200+ pounds. The list of how ranges from finally getting in the online dating game, to daring greatly in my business life, to challenging old assumptions about myself and others’ perceptions of me based on my weight.

My favorite author and speaker, Brene Brown, calls it daring greatly – as inspired by the Theordore Roosevelt quote.

It’s been an interesting, challenging, invigorating and roller coaster ride. Ups and downs for sure, but mostly ups. And I don’t regret one moment of getting in that arena and daring greatly. But I will say it is not always easy.

Today, I am grateful that I have the courage, the strength, and the “hootspa” to put myself out there and engage in a very real and authentic way. Even if, as Brene Brown says, sometimes I get my ass kicked. 😉 I have so much to look forward to and so much living yet to do. I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds and what happens next.

For today, after getting my ass kicked just a bit, I am grateful that I got in the arena and gave it a shot. And I will keep doing it every day. Stretching myself to live outside my comfort zone where vulnerability, authenticity and a little fear meet. Pretty cool!

Are you in the arena? How are you showing up in ways you maybe didn’t before? Tell me. Let’s swap stories here or contact me here.

Hugs. Almost Valentine’s Day – the day of LOVE! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Lori

“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 and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, 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 he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

                                                                                                                     Theodore Roosevelt, “Man in the Arena” Speech given April 23, 1910