I'm afraid to walk in public, because people look at me. But I'm not going to stop. I'm afraid because if I want to commune with my friend Shad (Meier), I have to ask him to cut my chicken for me. But I did it. And I'm afraid to go back and see my teammates and coaches because I know that I'll feel envy. But I'm going to do it anyway. Because fear is just a feeling, and if you can acknowledge that fear, digest that fear and overcome it, the rewards are incredible.
Interpretation
Overcoming fear is essential for growth and connection with others.
In this quote, Steve Gleason expresses the struggles he faces with fear and anxiety in social situations, yet emphasizes the importance of confronting those fears to experience meaningful connections and personal growth. He acknowledges that fear is a natural feeling, but encourages taking action despite it, highlighting that embracing and overcoming fear can lead to significant rewards in life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about facing personal challenges.
I have been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). It's a terminal disease with an average lifespan of two to five years post-diagnosis, and scientists don't know what causes it. ALS prevents your brain from talking to your muscles. As a result, muscles die. As a result, every 90 minutes people die. I am a person.
I think about death all the time. I think that's a good thing because we're all going to die, and the only thing we can control is how we are and what we're doing in the meantime.
We have all made mistakes in this life. How we learn from our mistakes is the measure of who we are.
Through adversity we find our heroes.
But the safety of the world, in some sense, depends on your saying no to inhumane ideas. Standing up for one's own integrity makes you no friends. It is costly. Yet defiance of the mob, in the service of that which is right, is one of the highest expressions of courage I know.
Our capacity for wholeheartednes s can never be greater than our willingness to be broken-hearted.
The battle goes on for me; as a gay man, I shall not be happy until I see equality across the board.
As far as I was concerned, the Panthers were 'baaaaaad.' The Party was more than bad; it was bodacious. The sheer audacity of walking onto the California Senate floor with rifles, demanding that Black people have the right to bear arms and the right to self-defense, made me sit back and take a long look at them.
I learned with 'Birdman' that it's liberating when you just lose yourself and go after something that terrifies you.
I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.
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