Dare 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
I could not think of or find a better way to describe the pursuit of the College Degree than this one. While it was not directly related there is a lot of symbolism going on here.
All of us have critics. All of us have those people who inadvertently do not want us to succeed. You can either do one or two things.
1. Let them talk you out of doing something you want.
2. Use it as fuel to keep you going.
I hope we choose the latter.
You are the warrior in the arena. Your own opinion is the one that should matter the most. Why listen to people who waste their time trying to tear you down, rather than build you up. You are the one who is daring greatly and it matters not the opinion of those in the grandstands.
The individual with singular purpose is the one will see high achievement and have the opportunity to spend themselves to a great cause. At worst you might fail, but failure is infinitely better than standing in the crowd wishing you had the guts to even try.
Be the one to dare greatly.
