On Courage
Guns blazing courage, quiet assertion courage, public speaking and the PowerPuff Girls.
Dear reader,
This week I did something I swore I’d never do.
Not only did I join a Toastmasters club, I’m also giving my first speech this weekend. Have I written it yet? No. Do I know what I’m going to write about? Also, no. Call me crazy but I like being thrown into the deep end.
(For context, Toastmasters International is a public speaking organisation that has kept my mother engrossed for the whole of my lifetime. I grew up surrounded by Toastmasters and speeches and timing devices and advice on stage presence - and so, obviously I wanted nothing to do with it when I left home. Naturally, it caught up to me.)
I’ve been thinking about courage & cowardice a lot lately. How when people see a fire, some run to it, and others run from it. Sometimes, you are both the healer and the fire.
Personally, I always feel most useful around an emergency. The urgency, the decisiveness, the need to rally people together - it’s thrilling and purposeful, and I end up burning out just as quickly. According to a friend of mine in the TV industry, this is what his office calls ‘Producer Syndrome’.
Later on, when I had the opportunity to meet some incredible film producers, I realised what that meant - you find a fire and you tame it, hold it, and then you tell it where to go.
Now this is a beautiful idea, but as we all know, fire is dangerous. Tending to it requires some practice, some pain, and a healthy dose of caution.
Without that temperance, your courage is more likely recklessness - and according to my childhood icon Miley Cyrus, it’s just youth.
Say what you want about the girl, but she’s never shied from her own truth - and I love her all the more for it. I’m just glad the rest of the world is figuring it out now.
I can’t seem to find this quote’s source, but it always gives me comfort to remember it:
“People shine when when they move forward with their shaking hearts”
Amid running a business, taking on a new mentee, diving headfirst into public speaking, hosting salons, and just generally staying afloat, I’ve learned courage is sometimes also about recognising some fires - the most important ones - require slowing down. Tending to your own fires and no one else’s.
I don’t know how to yet, but I’m getting there.
Thankfully, the world is full of brilliant examples of people moving forward with their shaking hearts.
Like, every love story ever. Or my favourite heroes of all time - The PowerPuff Girls.
Or for the more long-drawn, philosophical loving TV audiences:
Avatar: The Last Airbender tells the story of what it means to tend to your own fires, and be truly courageous. When you think about it, that’s the scariest thing, right? Being yourself authentically - consistently - means knowing yourself enough and then owning it.
And sometimes that means slowing down to do the hard stuff - like writing a speech you really don’t want to give.
Hoping you take a minute to shine this week,
Kaav.
Firsttttt