Confidence\nleads to courage. I used to believe\nthat. Master a skill, figure out exactly what to say, and you will act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trouble is,\nthose skills take a long time to find and master. In the meantime, you are frozen\nin time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An incident\nat a conference a few years ago changed my mind about the sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nconference was held in Arizona, at a hotel on whose grounds rabbits\nproliferated. It was delightful to walk to the morning sessions, watching them\nplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
One day,\nwhile coming back, I saw three little boys chasing them, surrounding and\ncornering them. The rabbits were running every which way, in terror. To a\npassionate animal lover, this was unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What they\nwere going to do next, I\u2019ll never know, because I started chasing the boys, screaming\nat the top of my lungs, \u201cStay away from those rabbits.\u201d For a polite,\nstay-out-of the-spotlight introvert (me), this was unprecedented behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A large adult\nmale, presumably associated with the boys, came looming out of a nearby room\nand shouted, repeatedly, \u201cThey\u2019re only rabbits.\u201d He was\nfar larger than I, and had that widened posture that males affect when they are\nfeeling, well, powerful. Rather than frightening me, this infuriated me more so\nI continued to scream at him and the boys. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They did go\naway. (The boys and man; I expect the rabbits got out of there pretty quickly\ntoo.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I went\nback to the evening session, the man sitting behind me said, \u201cWere you the\nwoman yelling at the boys who were chasing the rabbits?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With some\napprehension, I replied \u201cYes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\ncontinued, \u201cAt first I thought you were crazy.\u201d (Thanks a lot; that is the fear\nthat keeps many of us from acting.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he\ncontinued: \u201cThen, I realized you were right and you were very brave. I COULDN\u2019T\nDO THAT.\u201d He called me \u201cbrave\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s a\nkey for all you introverts out there who fear the judgment of others. So many\nof them are judging you because they couldn\u2019t do it. They are incredulous that\nyou can. That realization alone can bring you comfort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have never\nforgotten that incident and it fueled me to take more and more social chances\nfrom then on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you have\na somewhat audacious idea? Speak out lest someone else propose it first and get\nthe credit. Are you burning with thoughts to communicate but held back by fear?\nDo you believe people will scorn you for speaking up? Remember, they couldn\u2019t\ndo it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Act on your\npassion wholeheartedly, without so much fear about the judgment. Passion? I\nknow introverts are filled with it, mostly inside. We can burn with ideas that\nwould transform the world, or at least the world around us. But we don\u2019t dare\nto act on them, so we remain forever invisible, or at least subliminal, and no one ever knows of that fire inside.<\/em>\nNow that\u2019s truly scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The courage\nwill come, because courage leads to confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Lynette Crane, an acclaimed national speaker \u00a92019,\nLynette Crane, Quiet Brilliance Consulting LLC \n<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Confidence leads to courage. I used to believe that. Master a skill, figure out exactly what to say, and you will act. Trouble is, those skills take a long time to find and master. In the meantime, you are frozen in time. An incident at a conference a few years ago changed my mind about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[722,14],"tags":[770,527,11,769],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\n\n\n