The Man in the Arena

I think a lot about the type of person I want to be. I think about being self-possessed, compassionate, empathetic, courageous, and understanding. I think about being the type of person who doesn't take other people so personally and of being someone others can put their trust in. I think about the pain that comes with vulnerability, and also how good it feels to be out in the open. Out of hiding. So when I came across this video of Brené Brown where she quoted The Man in the Arena by Theodore Roosevelt I immediately recognized how desperately I needed to hear these words...

The Man in the Arena

"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." 

Comments

[Lance]

So cool