“We Gotta Be Brave”

I was sitting in a Denver coffee shop catching up with a long-time friend who had fashioned a successful career in television news. She had risen from local reporter to national correspondent but had also seen the challenging side in losing a high-profile national position because of corporate downsizing. The devoted wife and mother was in transition wondering, “What’s going to happen next?”

As we chatted about friends and stories from our shared past, the Minnesota-born colleague mentioned reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She was in New Orleans a few months after the devastating storm. It was just days before Halloween 2005 and this faithful woman was assigned to discover how children of the storm were coping with the awful memories of their loved ones, friends, homes and schools being washed away. “I was talking with a darling girl who was maybe eight or nine,” my friend recounted. “She was content sleeping on the floor of her mother’s workplace, that was okay. What bothered this young New Orleans native more was Halloween and the scary ghosts and goblins who would be roaming the streets.”

My friend continued, “This big-eyed and beautiful child when describing how to deal with the fear of Halloween night, and all the ghosts and goblins, shouted out in a thick Cajun accent, “I just gotta be brave!”

Hearing that incredible story made me think of what the Comeback Coach encourages others during each and every Run to Daylight presentation: We have to put fears and self-doubt aside and have the courage to go for it – run to daylight. It’s absolutely critical for success in life to follow this young girl’s example: “We gotta be brave!”

Fear versus courage, the great battle waged within ourselves each day in deciding whether to take action in the pursuit of becoming superior to our former selves at home, work or community. It’s the challenge that’s been before mankind forever. 400 years ago, William Shakespeare stated: “Our doubts are traitors that make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”

Thanks to a transitioning reporter sharing a young girl’s story, we have a great reminder of something very important: Don’t let fear get in the way of your dreams, instead remember courage is the soul of your dreams. “We gotta be brave” in facing the ghosts and goblins of our past in the pursuit of dreams and goals of our future.