Be Bold

Today was one of those nutty days that you feel like you are behind on everything. I met up for lunch with a dear friend, who happens to be one of those people that are a smile embodied. As the lunch went on and we got deeper into what dreams are made of...no one else existed. We could have been anywhere.

In our conversation, we talked about the road blocks of getting from point A to point B.
I do tend to think of life a little like climbing a mountain or Adventure Racing. In climbing, it's take a step..breathe..take a step...breathe, over and over.....and over till you reach your next camp, next rest, or the summit. Knowing then, at the summit, you are only half way there unless you plan on staying. One must come down. You go through moments of elation, despair, sadness, boredom, and too many to name only to come back to take a step...breathe...take a step....breathe.
In Adventure Racing, the goal is to move forward going as quickly as you can, running, jumping, falling down and all the while trying to maintain a sense of direction and mentally keeping it somewhat together. Many times, unlike climbing, you must veer from the course. Looking at the map, seeing what lies ahead and realizing you will be moving forward.....parallelling (is that even a word?). You are not in forward motion. Again you go through the range of emotions, seen above and you have the added benefit of being covered in leeches, mud, the salt has rubbed your heiny raw (alright I'll stop), you get the picture.

So if it seems like there is a tangent...yes though what we want most in life is to enable others to live their dreams. What does that mean?

The gal I had lunch with told me a story about a older blind, homeless gentleman that was holding a sign up to help him gain monetary support. The sign said "I'm blind, please help". He was not getting very many donations. A lady approached and asked if she could help, he felt her shoes and said, yes. She flipped the sign over and wrote something and handed it back to him. That day the money poured in. The lady came back to check on the blind gentleman later that day and found him very happy. He knew it was her from her shoes. He asked, "what did you write on the sign that changed my fortune?". She replied, it says," What a beautiful day, I cannot see it".

Whether it is paralleling in a race, unable to see the beautiful day, or being frightened of what lay ahead for us personally or professionally. BE BOLD. I told her we as humans fail forward.

This amazing talk by Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon reminds us to BE BOLD and it is our life's work to enable others to love their dreams. GO AT IT PEOPLE!



love you,
sarah