Cycles of Courage
Letting your light shine in a world that doesn’t always echo or embrace you takes courage. Many of us go into business for ourselves because the unique vision churning within is so compelling, the call so strong, that it can’t be ignored. We come to a point where there is no choice but to step into the fire, no matter the costs.
I spent Saturday morning at the county science fair with my son. As his project was being judged, we watched Nat Geo’s “Science Fair,” which follows a handful of high school kids competing in the 2017 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
The film highlights a local kid, Robbie Barrat. Struggling with grades, he was more interested in reprogramming his graphing calculator to generate Shakespearian insults than using it to do actual homework, something his teacher didn’t fully appreciate. After almost failing math, Robbie won the WV state science fair, qualifying for ISEF, by creating an algorithm designed to learn how artificial intelligence actually learns – all while remixing Kanye West lyrics.
Equally amazing was Kashfia Rahma, a young Muslim girl from South Dakota. Attending a sports-obsessed high school with no actual science lab, she struggled just to get a teacher to sponsor her. Studying the connection between brain waves and risky behaviors that lead to drug abuse, she placed first in her category at ISEF – an enormous accomplishment that was never recognized by her school.
I was touched not just by their brilliance, but by the courage these kids had to forge ahead with their passions despite their struggles.
In my adult life, whenever I get snagged, I find myself longing to rekindle the courage of my own fifteen-year-old self. Like these kids, and many entrepreneurs I work with, I also didn’t fit the norm in high school. Admittedly quirky, and maybe even a little weird, our gifts weren’t always validated by our families and communities of origin.
Maybe we were too passionate, too pensive, too curious, too energetic, or too audacious and risky. Or somedays… just “too much.”
Instead of bending to the gravitational pull, at fifteen, I stepped more boldly into my convictions. While there can be success in that choice, it also comes with a price. As adults with broader experiences moving against the grain, we intimately know the sting not just of poor grades and afterschool detentions, perhaps, but also of strained relationships, minimized support, and maybe even lost jobs.
Courage waxes and wanes. Caution rises (often cyclically in my life) maybe because of a need to fit in, to earn a dollar, take a break, or make that grade. In those times of caution, we can start to flatten as our flame dims and our vision get lost in the noise. It’s time to reassess.
What signs tell you when you’ve lost your courage and are operating from a place of increased caution?
