Much Ado About Bravery

“Don’t live your life protecting yourself against 10 percent of the world, when 90 percent of the world is out there waiting for you.” – Keith Ferrazzi

It all started in my Campus Leadership class when our professor assigned the week’s reflection topic. We were to sign up for the Leadership and Influence Summit, an online event targeted at business professionals, and write about some of the videos we watched. While I found everything I viewed interesting and helpful, I was most impressed with Relationship Success by Keith Ferrazzi, where the above quote really spoke to me.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been questioning my own ideas about what it means to be brave. When I think of bravery, the first image that pops into my head is a lion, followed closely by the crest of Gryffindor. I think of people jumping out of airplanes, Spiderman fending off some horrible mutant villain, handsome princes slaying dragons — and yet, when I consider my personal fears and the people who have overcome those, I realize that bravery doesn’t always fit into those archetypes.

As I observe myself in various situations, I notice how crippling our fears can be — especially those pertaining to other people. We worry that our thoughts, decisions, opinions and actions will be judged by others, and sometimes we let that keep us from growing. We worry about disappointment and disapproval and rejection, even though most of the time, no one is really judging us as hard as we believe. Often, our protective tendencies against our vulnerabilities are actually hurting us.

90 percent of the world is waiting for you, so why worry about the remaining 10? — Tweet this!

Stand up for what you believe in. Do something completely out of the ordinary. Tell the love of your life how you really feel. My task? To speak up for myself even when it can be intimidating. Try to get out of your comfort zone, and maybe you’ll learn something new about yourself.