✏️ Notes
✏️ Here Is to Bravery
My father passed away a year and a half ago, and with Father’s Day approaching, he has been very present in my mind. I keep noticing how much courage I drew from him, often just from hearing his voice over the phone or simply knowing he would be at a specific location I was headed. When I was dealing with night terrors as a child just hearing his footsteps would not only soothe me, but make me want to look under the bed for the monsters.
A truism he’d repeat throughout my childhood when I was faced with a defeat and (usually) sulking about it (not scoring the winning goal, failing a test, losing a friendship) or when I had crippling fear and wanted to give up was: hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
At first it sounds like a mere pep talk for the next scoreboard. And why would a father tell this to his scared child? But what he meant was bigger than skill.
He meant: some things come easy, and ease can carry you far. But for most things in life, what matters is what you put in—or more specifically, what you take responsibility for. Any gap is in your control. The hard work path, the accountability path, the facing your fear path, will take you farther than raw talent, or ease, ever could on its own. Because hard work multiplies talent. It turns a gift into a practice, and a practice into a life.
And as a wise friend once told me: there is no free lunch. There are no corners to cut forever. Eventually, the bill comes due, and the ones who have been doing the work are the ones who can pay it.
We all want the born-talent moment, the silver spoon and simple triumphs. And yes, there is luck, and more is coming. But luck lands differently on people who have been preparing for it.
And that, I’ve come to understand, is its own kind of bravery; not the dramatic leap, not the born-gift, but the quiet decision to show up and face the work or the fear. To choose the harder path after defeat or in the face of difficulty, because you know it’s the one that actually goes deep.
As my friend texted today in a group chat that has evolved into Shakespearean speak:
”…This duel, perchance, shall carve my name upon the scrolls of glory, or else consign me to the silent shade.”
My father would certainly say: put in the work & face the fear—the next battle is yours!