“Fear keeps us alive. Never not be afraid.”
Those are the words of Grug, the father in the animated movie The Croods. I did a post on this movie a few years back. I watched it again the other night with one of my grandsons and had some more revelations from the cartoon.
Grug’s whole goal in life is to protect his family. That is a noble goal but he wants to do it by always having them in a cave and keeping them from anything good or bad.
Recently, I did something that took a great deal of courage on my part. I attended an audition for a TEDx talk. Now, I make my living as a speaker so you wouldn’t think this would be that big of a deal. It was. When I’m invited to speak somewhere, I know my material well. I still get very nervous but, for the most part, I am somewhat comfortable.
If you’ve ever watched any of the TED or TEDx talks they are amazing. I don’t see myself on that level but aspire to be there someday. Even auditioning to be selected was well out of my comfort zone.
When I arrived for the registration I was told that I would be number 9 of 19 people on the audition list. Each person would be given ninety seconds for their audition. Doing a little quick math in my head I figured my turn would be roughly a half an hour into the evening taking into account time between auditions.
As I processed through my memorized remarks auditioners one and two went up front and completed their try-outs. The emcee took the stage following the second person.
“Next up is Dave Cornell. Let’s welcome Dave with a round of applause.”
Wait, did he say my name? It took a second to sink in. He did. I still have six more to go before me! I wasn’t ready for that. Slowly, I got up from my chair and headed towards the microphone at the front of the room.
Once you say your first word in the audition the 90-second timer begins. As I turned to face the audience my mind went blank. I must have said something because I saw the clock begin. I stammered something else a couple of times and had no idea what I was saying or what I was supposed to be saying. The clock continued racing towards a minute and a half.
I remember looking back at my wife and in my mind I was screaming in my head, “HELP ME!” She couldn’t.
Some of what I had practiced and memorized began to reveal itself. I quickly began to spit it out so as not to forget it again. The clock went past ninety seconds and I was close to two minutes before I was done. It seemed SOOOOO MUCH LOOOOONGER.
I totally bombed. It was horrible. It was embarrassing. I’m still kicking myself and wondering WHAT happened. But I showed up.
Of the nineteen who signed up to audition only eight showed up. Certainly, some of those who didn’t show had legitimate reasons for not coming. My guess is, however, that most of them chickened out. I almost did. Once I hit the submit button to register for the audition I began to come up with reasons not to go. I had a lot of them. When you’re the courage guy, however, courage better win out.
Staying home is what Grug would have wanted and encouraged me to do. Staying home is what I wanted to do. If I had stayed home, fear would have won. I don’t like it when fear wins in my life. It’s happened far too often and I’m trying to change that. I’d rather have the courage to show up and fail than stay home and have fear win.
Late in the movie The Croods, Grug is having a conversation with his daughter, Eep. Throughout the movie she has challenged her father and his desire to keep everyone in the cave and safe. She says to her father:
“Dad you have to stop worrying about us.”
Grug responds, “But it’s my job to worry. It’s my job to follow the rules.”
Eep says, “The rules don’t work out here.”
“They kept us alive,” Grug countered.
“That wasn’t living! That was just…not dying! There’s a difference,” Eep said respectfully to her dad.
Courage is living. Fear is “just not dying.” There is a difference.
Courage shows up. Fear stays home.
Courage doesn’t always lead to a happy ending but fear always leads to a regretful ending.
Are you showing up in life, or, are you staying home?
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
Do you need a speaker for an upcoming event? I’d love to be that guy. You can reach me at dave@cultivatecourage.com or 952-200-7499.
You can now buy the book “Cultivate Courage” on Amazon! https://amzn.to/2OmRLwE
