The Man in the Arena - are you living your life to the full?
I want to read you one of my favourite quotes from a Theodore Roosevelt speech that he gave in Sorbonne Paris in 1910.
And it was a long speech, and this is one section of the speech which is well known as 'The Man in the Arena'.
"It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again.
Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause.
Who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement and who, if he fails, at least fails whilst daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
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This quote has inspired me for many years. It first resonated deeply when I failed to get to win a race to the magnetic North Pole. I was racing with a team 350 miles across the Arctic and I had a blister and I ended up with Septicemia and I had to pull out.
And this quote inspired me because it it made me realise that life is not really about success or failure at all.
It's about living our lives fully, embracing who we are, being who we want to be, and being in the arena of our own life. Like sweaty and dusty and bloody, yes! Sometimes failing, sometimes coming up short again and again, but at least living life in a worthy cause, in a way that is worthy to us, inspiring to us, and living our life fully.
So at this time of the year I think it's a beautiful quote to reflect on, to say, 'am I in the arena'? Am I living my life in the arena? Am I playing full out regardless of whether I'm succeeding or failing? Am I playing full out regardless of whether people like it or people don't like it? Am I playing full out regardless.
