"If he fails, at least fails while daring greatly"

“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

Today it was this quote that inspired me. Today I was feeling less than my best as a mother and I needed the reminder that I get credit for being down there in the arena even though I will come up short again and again.

After reading the content this week and watching the videos I am trying to decide how all this applies to me. I have found that I am quite a good coach and cheerleader of others and have helped my husband in his business and my children in their various endeavors to develop their talents. However, I have not spent a lot of time figuring out what my "big ideas" are and reaching for my own "star". So I think this will be a great class for me. Currently I have been helping my husband with marketing for his business and I really enjoy that and I think I'm pretty good at it. After reading the one article I see that I am the person that needs to start at the beginning to do the next steps in stead of starting at the star. I want to ask myself the questions of WHO AM I?

Am I moving ahead or am I stuck?
Am I experiencing joy on a daily basis?
Where is my most dangerous blind spot?

What resistance is keeping me from becoming who I am meant to be?
I do think if I go through each step on the Life of Meaning Framework that I can be confident at answering these questions at the end of my life or even after all my children leave home. What have I accomplished? Was I a good person? Whom did I love?