56 RealityBites #3 The Man in the Arena

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." Theodore Roosevelt

 

 

Welcome back to another realitybites #3!

 

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Topics and conversational points:

So this quote has been around awhile and maybe you know it, but it stands true through time.

And it got me thinking about how we engage in life…how we show up not just for others but for ourselves…

What dreams, what experiences are we holding back from? Where are we limiting ourselves?

Because we all have dreams no matter how big or small…maybe we’ve been told we can’t have what we truly desire…maybe this was what we believed and became a part of our belief system at an early stage.

Maybe you’ve had many setbacks, losses moments where you just want to give up…

And just like in the quote maybe the critic is the one we have within…

It reminds me of one of my other favourite quotes “Something we were withholding made us weak until we found out it was ourselves”. - Robert Frost

It’s easier to sit on the sidelines and criticise because we don’t have to face the consequences of losing or taking a hit.

It reminds me of analogy with MMA or the UFC fighters who literally step in an arena and fight in front of millions…putting it all on the line, high risk and high reward..

This is like the extreme of facing your fears or testing your limits, your edge, yet there is something innate and primal about this…this is why so many are captivated by this spectacle.

Are we hardwired to be drawn to this, to see two gladiators “fight” ? On a deeper level isn’t this what we are doing on a survival level every day as a part of bing alive?

But how many of us are willing to step into that arena, to face our fears, no matter how big or small they may seem?

Time and again we have seen people in history accomplish great things, overcome huge odds in that pursuit to taste a victory and that victory is personal to everyone.

But I ask this, is it better to sit on the sidelines and not engage or take the risk, take the leap even tight teeter of course is the chance you will fail…

And we can interpret failure in many ways…some never bounce back and rise again, some use failure for growth or to learn to try and try again.

I believe within us all we have this internal battle…

We have all experienced setbacks, failures but what is it in the human spirit that keeps us striving and going again and again?

The thing is we face these daily challenges in so many areas of our life.. that new job, the new relationship, we face little battles everyday some people obviously have greater battles than others…health challenges which encompass not only the physical but mental, emotional, spiritual..

We are as human beings resilient, adaptable, hopeful…the human spirit is limitless…

I guess the takeaway from all this for me is to keep going for what you desire, to keep punching, to keep dreaming, to live life you can look back on that you can say I gave to another shot.

Thanks for listening!