“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 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 spoke about this years ago and on the heels of our conversation about stepping boldly into who we are, this is the perfect context.  We go for things, we fail, we try, we fail again.  Then we push through and we learn and we apply what we learn and we shape the life we are meant to have through these lessons, these trials, these failures and triumphs.  We become who we are meant to be through connecting with what we know and through the grand experiment of alchemizing passion and purpose into presence and performance. 

There will always be those who talk—we all have words, few have the action required to back them up.  I found my timidness came when those who didn’t know the details I did opened their mouths to speak louder than I could.  I foolishly allowed myself to be silenced and to question what I already knew.  My path was clear and I put these people in my way because I weighted their words higher than my intuition and knowing.  Talk means little—action is what creates.  There will always be those on the sidelines who know better than we do.  Those are the voices that we silence and drown out.  Do not allow those who refuse to do the work be the ones to determine our next steps or what we do.  Criticism from those determined to create disruption means less than nothing.  It is our drive and dedication and determination and belief that matter.  It is our course that matters and sometimes we need to learn to ignore everything around us and simply stick with what we know is right for us.  No one can tell us that—and that is something no one tells us.  Yes, the environment we live in and choose shapes us but that doesn’t mean that is what we have to be.  We were born with the map inside of us, the knowing that puts us on the path we were meant to have.  Don’t ignore that direction for the sake of someone who never even left the house.

I let those determined to cut me down win for a long time.  I thought I had to play nice and be who other people told me to be.  I still struggle to find my voice with what I need to express.  I am still outvoted much of the time when I do express my voice.  But the realization is hitting now more than ever, especially after the exposure I’ve had this past weekend, that those who have no idea what we are doing, what we are called to do are often the first ones to tell us it can’t be done.  Those wrapped in their little cocoons, safe in the knowledge of their safety are quick to point out the flaws of those who have journeyed beyond what they can see.  They weren’t born with the same map so we can’t expect them to know where we are going.  Don’t let someone steer when they can’t even see the road.  So the point is this: there will always be critics, there will always be voices out there telling us what we can’t do or what we should do.  The only voice that matters is the one that KNOWS what we are supposed to do and that can only be found within.  When we are called to take a leap of faith into something that doesn’t make sense, we can trust that we will learn to fly.  That leap of faith is the calling to greatness, the calling to be who we are meant to be.  Forget the critics and trust the path.