In The Arena

Doesn't it seem like the messages we get are impeccably timed? Like the whispers and shouts of the world around us have somehow magically set themselves to exactly the wisdom we most need to listen to?

Lately I've heard and read many friends express the need to "get through it" - whatever "it" is for each of us. Jen Groover referenced this in her Ladies Who Launch profile yesterday. My Krishna Cab driver nudged me with his playful approach in that same direction. Wandering through LinkedIn this morning, I noticed that my old boss' boss, Fernando Espuelas of StarMedia and now VOY, seems to look to this form of counsel to keep himself going. Given his tenacity through brilliant venture to debacle and now back to brilliant venture, no doubt he is.

Teddy Roosevelt said this:

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach the highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph...It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who errs and comes short again…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at least knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Keepin' on keepin' on isn't glamorous, fer sure. And what a powerful truth to remember. Be it reading words of wisdom from the greats or simply watching my own friends like Fernando, Jen or Beth Schoenfeldt - alternately revelling in their success as readily as I take counsel from observing their process of lifting themselves up again and again and again, it becomes easier to realize that my current "it's" are okay. That it's completely okay to not know what to do next. That it's completely okay that in running Balance Integration I am challenged to the core by staff, sales, training, finances, growth. That it's okay to not be sure how things are going to unfold. That it's okay to have my own quiet moments where in spite of my conviction that yoga-based tools have a huge contribution to make to the quality of our lives at work and the quality of our work - I feel in my core what Gandhi said about being first ignored/ridiculed/fought and truly praying through doubt to win. That all the things that make my heart tremble with fear and my mind seek ways to find new courage are nothing but reminders that I am in the arena, getting dirty and sweaty, and earning my way to the next round of play.