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Life Notes

The Woman in the Arena

mandy on duty lifestyle blog

This is a little public service announcement of inspiration to remind you to keep striving valiantly in the various arenas of your life. My rough patches unearth self doubt and my inner critic so this speech is the inspiration needed to remind me to shut down my inner critic (and any haters who are not walking a mile in my stylish fall boots), and just keep chugging forward. Keep being the best you you can be, keep pursuing your dreams, and keep trusting your own path and life struggles.

The Man in the Arena (Theodore Roosevelt)
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Also a gentle reminder: Doing the best you can in the mutha hood is daring greatly. Wearing that lipstick color you’re scared to (even though it might look too whatever), trying that outfit you really want to (even though your body looks however), and getting that edgy haircut you’ve imagined (even though your friend thinks it’s too whatever), is also daring greatly. It will lead you to the next bigger dare, and the next, and the next…you get the picture.