As we sat in the south end zone at the BYU game, we watched the punt returner stand alone, waiting for a high punt to reach his arms as his opponents were rushing toward him in hopes of tackling him to the ground. Tom said to me, “You would have to have nerves of steel to do something like that.” The ironic thing is, we get mad when he doesn’t catch it. We wonder what is wrong with him. To me, it’s astonishing that anyone ever catches anything when they are in a stadium of nearly 64,000 people with 300 pound men charging towards them.
Years ago I was walking through the lobby of my housing complex at Ricks College. The Miss America Pageant was on and several girls were watching it. There was criticism about their dresses, their hair, their shoes and their answers to the host’s questions. I remember thinking, “Which one of us could get up on that stage and do what they are doing?” Not me for sure.
Brene’ Brown has said, “A lot of cheap seats in the arena are filled with people who never venture onto the floor.”
I want to be in the arena: sharing ideas, looking for solutions, making the world a better place to live in. I may not be catching footballs or winning beauty contests, but I can enter the arena in other ways. I believe success comes to those who are willing to fail.
