I was thinking about the things I want to accomplish in the next 5 years. Growing my business, and developing my skills so that I can begin to spread my message to a wider audience. I believe I have the ability, I know I have the passion,

but there is one thing holding me back.

I have never written about it, but as I have been exploring the challenges other people have about blogging — something I feel very comfortable with, and doesn’t create much anxiety for me, when I make the time to do it — I have started thinking about the things that hold me back, and how I am overcoming them. It’s easy to tell someone how easy something is when you don’t have any challenges with that thing. So, when I asked myself what it was that was standing between me and my dreams, I realized how paralyzing it feels.

It’s not really fear, it’s more like a dialogue in my head. It’s the resistance, and it has a strong hold on me. I like to feel confident, I like to avoid looking stupid, I like being in control of how my message is being delivered. Writing gives me the satisfaction that I will be able to polish the message before it is delivered. It’s not the same with video.

Video is not in my control.

I am completely comfortable with public speaking. I don’t even mind when my presentations are recorded live. No, the thing holding me back is the dialogue in my head when I am thinking about promoting myself with video.

Everyone has “The Thing” that is holding them back, and this is mine. I decided to share this here, because I want others to know I struggle with this, and by writing it down, I know I will be able to call it out and start defeating the resistance by holding myself accountable to you, my reader.

The Resistance vs the Lightbringer

I have recently begun to learn how to overcome things that hold me back, things that were once hard have become easier, I have practiced, I have leaned into the resistance, and I now know that I have full control of what I do and don’t do. There’s nothing holding me back that isn’t inside of me — there’s no one to blame but me. Yet, the voice in my head is loud, deafening. When I think about video, the voice chides me with this:

“You’re goofy. Your eyes get buggy, you talk too fast, you use your hands too much, you are too excitable, you don’t have a polished, calm delivery like the pros do. You’ll never be someone people hire for a keynote. Don’t let yourself believe that shit about being a nationally recognized speaker, coach and trainer on community building. It’s not possible. You’re not good enough.” — The Resistance.

I buy this. I agree, I stall. “It’s true, every single word is true.” I tell myself. So, I do nothing, and I remain safe.

But when I argue with the resistance, the argument is also true. Which truth do I want to believe? The safe truth, or the truth that challenges me to do more?

On the days I am feeling like pushing back at the resistance, my voice responds with:

That’s what makes you Chrissanne. You have a story to tell, and this is part of it — overcoming this is your work. If you don’t overcome this noise, you’ll always be stuck, and no one wants to listen to that story. Do you think those who have gone before you didn’t have challenges to overcome? Are you going to stay here forever? The cavalry ain’t coming. You are responsible for creating your future. You are not weak. You will do whatever it takes, even if it feels uncomfortable. You are enough — get on with it . — The Lightbringer

I think we all have this duality in our lives. We tend to focus on resistance, because that is the voice we are listening to. We fail to identify the other voice, likely because we are taking action based on the voice of the resistance. We’re letting it have control of our future and allowing its words to drown out the voice of possibility and hope. We so easily identify the resistance, it’s a familiar dance for all of us, and for some reason, we’re not even giving the voice of the light a chance to be heard. We don’t give her a name, but we should, just like we have a name for the resistance, the lizard brain, depression, guilt, shame. Today, I have given the voice of hope and possibility a name.

She is the LightBringer.

I believe if we call out the resistance, we can start the process of understanding, but that alone is not enough. We have to do something about it — I think most of us would agree that when we are aligned with the light, we begin to do the work, more productively and proactively. We begin to win, we begin to shine our light. We begin to do the work.

This is who I want to be. Someone who recognizes the challenges in front of me, who refuses to dance with the resistance, to defy the voice that holds her back from achieving more. To have the ability to shine a bright light into the world, and allow others to do the same.

My hope, is that you will start to listen to your Lightbringer, and help others (including me) do the same as well. Hold yourself accountable, and then let’s hold up the mirror for each other. But don’t ask anyone to listen to the Lightbringer for you. That is something only you can do. In my case, it’s my job now to do the work. To pick up the camera, and point it at myself. What is the Lightbringer telling you in response to the resistance? And what are you going to do about it? Are you going to listen to the resistance? Or are you going to listen to the Lightbringer? I hope you choose the light.

My Aunt, Elena.

Anyone who knows her has learned something from her — that love is the most endearing gift ever given to man (and woman).

When I was a teenager, I got into trouble. I was sent to live with Elena and my uncle Willy, who is also another loving soul. They are both so blessed, and filled with love. Not to take anything away from my Tio, but when I considered who the happiest person I know might be, it was Elena whose face appeared. Sorry, Unc!

When I arrived in Miami, angry, and rejected, there was no judgement, only love. It was not a punishment, although initially, it certainly felt like it would be.

No, this was God’s divine intervention.

When I think about the life she has lived, it’s surely not going to be fair to try and assume that this post can dare to tell her story. I know there was anguish, fear, pain, anger, frustration, worry, doubt, wavering faith. Elena isn’t perfect — but she’s humble, and strong, and so very devout in her faith. And this, I think qualifies as a very close possible second.

The pain that I felt at that time, was embraced, and accepted. Here was this 17-year old child of her husband’s oldest sister, struggling to find herself, in the hateful, spiteful world of adolescence, and yet, she willingly invited me into her home. I am not sure what the conversation was like, when my mom called and shared the painful sadness she felt at my willful rebellion. But I would be willing to bet that inviting me into her home was Elena’s idea. She had two young children at that time, and so many perfect reasons that this would not be a good idea. Most people, wouldn’t be able to do it. Of that, I am convinced.

But she did.

Why? Because it was love that she felt for me, for my family — and that love was the only hope we had at that time. It was her love that provided me a home during the most difficult year of my life.

Through it all, through her leadership, through her love, she showed me what happiness looked like. Her kind eyes, her stubborn prayers, her laugh, and her generous desire to help me, all were part of her happiness. She had enough to give, and she knew it was her calling, for whatever reason, to give that love to me. It was a risk. It made her vulnerable. It might have even seemed crazy to her family. “Elena, what if she steals from you? What if she hurts your kids?” “Are you sure this is safe?” And, her answer could only have been “No.” I didn’t want to hurt anyone — I wasn’t dangerous to anyone but myself, but then again, how would anyone have been able to guarantee that?

We can’t guarantee anything but the fact that love requires risk. And, I choose to believe that it is in this decision — to love anyway — that real happiness exists.

Now, over 20 years later, I look back and realize that her example can teach us all to find happiness in in the action of loving. We’re all seeking it. And we’re all striving to be the best versions of ourselves. We think that happiness exists in success, or in money, or things. We think we can find it in a bottle, or food. We seek it in others. And, then when we fail to “find happiness,” we blame — our jobs, our spouses, our children, our friends, God.

And, God is Love

So, today, as I felt a feeling of uncertainty and doubt come to me as sometimes happens, a vision of Elena, and the example of her love and her happiness appeared in my heart. And, I knew I needed to tell this story.

If I am able to give, just a fraction of the love that I have experienced from Elena, and all of my family, then it is my quest to find a way to give that love back. I could never repay Elena for the gift of her love at that time in my life. Nor would she ever allow me to try.

Happiness, my friends, lives in love.

Thank you Elena, for this incredible gift and your generous outpouring of love, when I needed it the most.

Invite Yourself

When you are considering the work others are doing, you may find yourself feeling left out. I remember that feeling well. Early on in my entrepreneurial career, I saw myself as “on the outside, looking in.” And feeling a little left out. I never considered that this was my choice, until one day, I found this:

Source: Seth Godin
(Thanks again, Seth).

It literally made me laugh at myself! Who says I am not invited? Who says I can’t share my voice? All of the mundane messages that exist in the world are shared by people that aren’t asking for permission! They are merely refusing to believe that their ideas aren’t good enough. And, who’s to say their ideas aren’t good enough? Good enough for what, for whom?

At this point, it was like I gave myself permission to look inside for the first time and see who I really am. I realized that my gifts — shining light, and caring more than the average person (which isn’t that hard, unfortunately), makes it possible for anyone to make a place for themselves. If you’re looking for a way to get your foot in the door, I suggest you turn that idea on its end and just start contributing as if you belong there — because as long as you have something valuable (aka the gifts you’ve been given from up above) — you do. All it takes is the willingness to step forward, and pick yourself.

Here are some of my favorite ways to invite myself.

  1. Providing a thoughtful comment on a blog post of a friend, community contact.
  2. Applauding the efforts of organizations and individuals who are doing something good.
  3. Volunteering to show up at an event when it seems like not many other people are going.
  4. Sharing someone’s post on Facebook or Twitter, to help them reach more people.
  5. Saying you’re going to be there, and then, being there.
  6. Serving on a board for a local non-profit.
  7. Buying a ticket to an event that you cannot attend, but want to support or that someone else might not be able to purchase, but would be a good opportunity for them to attend.
  8. Sending a thank you note, or a private message to someone who took the time to support something you were involved in.
  9. Posting a “shout out” to a community partner, or vendor talking about the great work they do.
  10. Writing a review on Google, or other channels that will help others discover a business doing excellent work.

What are some ways you have found that make a meaningful contribution and allow you to start getting stronger at inviting yourself to the conversation? I would love to hear some ideas from you that I can add to my list!

Because, if you can begin to see what we see, you’ll begin to understand how much we need you!

“Time” is Stealing your Dreams

The thing about time is that we make time — for a drink here, an extra hour of sleep there, a Netflix binge and all of the other things we enjoy…

Being disciplined about what is important to me has not always been a strength of mine, but in recent years, it has become obvious to me that if I am going to want the outcome to change, I have to change the input. There’s just no other way around it.

So, here I am writing this post — because I want to achieve something important enough to me that I am willing to write on a Sunday. This is day 5 of my 30 Day Challenge

I am making time because I know what happens if I don’t — Absolutely Nothing.

In the last 5 years, I have changed many habits, and created new ones. All of them have an element of time. Time is what I told myself I didn’t have, so I wasn’t going to be able to do the thing. Time was my excuse, and it was killing my dreams.

Here’s a list of my 3 most recent and important “wins” and how I feel anyone reading this might also begin to shift their thinking to start getting “more” from their lives, and their businesses. And, as you read, I hope you’ll realize that I am still fighting the inner battle every single day.

  1. Wake up one hour earlier.
    This is a recent win of mine, but I realized after many months that I felt I didn’t have enough time to get everything I wanted done done. I fought this — hard. I argued that it was my right to sleep, and I deserved it, after the day of hard work I had put in. Why should I get up early? But, when I started looking at the things that I was neglecting — the things that mattered more to me personally, that were not business related, I realized I was selling myself out for an hour’s worth of sleep. And, I was getting the short end of the stick, because the things that get shoved to the back burner are always my personal things — blogging for myself, exercising, reading, things that bring me pleasure, things that require nothing but me being able to have (make) the time to enjoy them.
  2. Lose Weight
    By the time 2016 rolled around, I was finally ready. For months before, I listened to my thoughts and the reality of the message they were revealing — I was making the choice every day to be fat. I didn’t have anyone else to blame. And, when the fact became clear that I was responsible for the fact that I was now trying to assure myself that shopping in the “Womans” department wasn’t all bad, I realized only I could do something.
    In the past, I always tried to blame someone else. My mom, my ex husband, time… And when I stopped letting myself believe that B.S, I realized that being a size 16 was my choice. This was the beginning of “getting ready.” For the remaining part of 2015, I actually gave myself permission to be fat. I allowed myself to feel ok with my choices, because, after all, they were my choices. I stopped criticizing myself, and I just let where I was be ok. And, every time I thought about the challenges I was facing with the clothes I was wearing, with the person I saw in the mirror, I owned it. And, then I decided to do something about it. I made the time for 10 solid months to show up at the local weight loss clinic [every single week], weigh in, be accountable, and face the music for my actions. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and, a lot more powerful than any other time I had tried to do something for someone else. This was my decision, and these were results that truly mattered to me. I lost 60 pounds in 2016, because I made the damn time to do it. It wasn’t the perfect time, it wasn’t cheap, it wasn’t easy, but it was necessary — because I deserved it. This is the first time I have written about my weight loss. I never posted before and after photos online, I just did what had to be done.
  3. Invest in My Community
    One of Seth Godin’s most recent books came out in 2014. It’s called What to do When it’s Your Turn (And it’s Always Your Turn). As you know, I am a student of his work, and credit his words for much of the turnaround I have created in my life. When I read this, I was challenged, as I often am by the messages of Seth’s words. What I walked away thinking was this:

Once I overcame my fear, I discovered that I now had an obligation to help others overcome theirs. It’s not explicitly written, but it’s part of the beauty of the work Seth does — he doesn’t tell you what to think, he just offers a new way for you to think. Something I believe we all need to explore, so that we can stop listening to the BS that we’re handed down by the coma-inducing-fear-based-indoctrination we’ve been served for the better part of a century. My decision to serve, and to “show up” comes from this awareness and, the fact is that these decisions take up a lot of my time, and there’s not a clear ROI for any of the work I do.

But, I do the work anyway, because I believe it’s my responsibility to refuse to blame the clock for my lack of interest, or unwillingness to make others a priority. Yes, that’s what time is all about. And, that’s why I take the time to show up and support the other initiatives in our community, because It’s My Turn.

When will you decide that it’s your turn?
Choosing the work we need to do to make our lives — and the lives of our families, customers, employees — better. It’s hard work, but it’s necessary work, and it is the only work that really matters.

So, you can tell me you don’t have time. And, I will totally understand. You’ll get no judgement from me — I have been there, done that and today, I simply refuse to keep buying that line of t-shirts.

But, I hope you’ll at least start thinking about the fact that the choice is always yours to make. The time isn’t going to make itself available to you, and no one is going to blame you for being too busy.

Big Data — Driven by Little People

Big Data Driven by Little People - Be Awesome Daily

Numbers aren’t sexy to me. But success can’t be measured if no one is keeping track, right?

There’s a lot of conversation in the world today about Big Data. For the corporate decision makers, it’s all about big business, so it requires big data.

Yet, when you think about it carefully, the data is you. The data is me. We are big data. And, the truth is, what we say matters isn’t enough.

Media companies like Facebook and Google are gathering data about all of us — that might piss you off, but not enough people are changing their behavior as a result of learning this is happening. So, guess what? Just because you say you don’t like something doesn’t mean you’re willing to do anything about it (Put down that potato chip!)

And, that means, you, me, your mom and dad, your kids. All of us are contributing to something bigger than ourselves.

Big Data.

I am not a conspiracy theorist. The fact that this data is being collected doesn’t bother me.

What bothers me is that it seems that only the big box corporations are doing anything about it.

They don’t really care about us, but they are willing to act like they do, enough to give us incentive to tell them whatever they want to know about us. And we believe them.

Small business owners can do this too, but many of you aren’t doing a thing. And, in the end, it seems like you don’t care about your customers, because, well you’re not paying attention to what they want.

Today, when it comes down to what matters most, it’s pretty simple:

  1. Giving your customers what they want so that…
  2. You can find new customers that want the same things.

Sure, you can ask your customers what they want, but then you have to do something with the data, and then you have to do something about what the data tells you. Oh, and there’s a difference between anecdotes and real data.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say you own a really nice restaurant in a very nice part of town. You are considering new menu items because you asked a couple of your regular patrons to taste a free sample, and they said they really loved it. So, after 10/10 of your patrons said they loved it, you called your vendor and ordered the items you’d need to add this new item to your menu. And you hype it up with your staff. But, 30 days later, not one person ordered it. You have to throw away all of the perishables . You can’t figure out what might have happened — after all, you did your market research right?

It’s Not What You Think!

Trust me, I am always surprised at what the data actually says. Because, I too want to believe what my trusted friends tell me. But the fact is, that we will tell our friends one thing, and do something completely different. It’s not that we’re liars, it’s that we have a relationship that leads us to feel a little pressure. When we’re answering a survey, or browsing the web, we feel more comfortable, and are not feeling like we’re put on the spot.

Because, it’s when we’re just being ourselves that we are at our best. We want that to be enough — and, it is. It’s always enough.

Every media company knows that the value is in the content provided by their publishers, the message, and “news.” Therefore, if we’re going to make any difference in the world at all, we have to be willing to look at what matters most. The people — our customers. And, if we’re not asking them what matters most to them, we’re failing them — and big data is not.

Leveraging our connections and looking beyond, we’ll find the answer, and it’s always always going to be driven by people. Lots and lots of little people!

Don’t Let Your Give-a-Damn get Busted

Be Awesome Daily - We Need You

The biggest challenge we face every day is caring. Caring makes us vulnerable. Which is not the same as weak. Giving a damn is exactly what makes doing the hard work so difficult. You show up doing what you can, the expert in whatever it is that you’re an expert at. But it doesn’t always work.

When it doesn’t work, you have 2 choices.

1. Stop Caring
2. Keep Caring

If you stop caring, you’re choosing the easy path — here you can be numb, and just go along to get along. You don’t have to work too hard, and you don’t have to care about the fact that you don’t care, because, look around, that’s what it seems like everyone is doing.

And, what’s even better? If you keep caring, you get the benefit of being lonely, wrong, misunderstood, criticized, ridiculed, and tired.

Whenever you decide to add value, and do more than is being asked of you, it’s important that you realize that this is your choice — and there’s a pretty good chance, with all the Give-a-damns that are busted in our world today, that nobody will care, notice or appreciate that you’ve done anything special. The thing is you’re free to stop protecting and maintaining your Give-a-damn, because everyone else seems to have abandoned theirs.

You’re not everyone else. We need you to Give a Damn.

I work with many different people. All of them have something important to say.

All of them.

My favorite part of my job is to listen, encourage, coach and ultimately help my clients understand why they need to get really good at telling their story. And why no one else can tell it as well as they can.

That’s where the trouble begins.

Today, there are millions of people clamoring to be heard. Together, we’re all looking at this mosh pit of thoughts, and we’re terrified of throwing ourselves into it. The fear comes from unknown sources. Most of the time, it’s not even identified as fear.

It’s described as too difficult to learn, or not important enough to warrant the time, or too time consuming.

You’d rather someone else do it for you. And, if you ask enough people, you might find someone who will do it for you. But then, it’s not your story. It’s their version of your story.

So what’s the solution?

Maybe this is a simplification, but I don’t think so.

  1. You need to understand the power of your voice.
  2. You need to leverage the relationships you have now.
  3. You need to listen to the stories of those around you.
  4. You need to care about their stories first.

You’re a human being, first and foremost. And, no matter what you say, the studies reveal that your most basic human need is connection. Without this, we cannot thrive. It’s no different in your business. You need connection in order for your business to thrive.

The trouble is, there’s too much noise pollution, and for some reason all of the good and decent messages are being throttled down by the gimmicks and the lies. You, know that feeling you get when you’re running close to your allotted data with your service provider, and nothing seems to work well? That’s called throttling your data. What if we could throttle up the good stuff? I believe we can.

Your voice is worth sharing.

If more of us believed that, maybe we’d be able to throttle down the noise and we’d eventually be where we all want to be: valued.

But the deck is currently stacked against you. If I told you to go out and start writing your brand story, and you took that blog section of your company website — the one that you’ve been neglecting for 5 years, and went to town, that would be an excellent start. But I would be willing to bet all of my marbles that it wouldn’t last. You’d only have half of the point.

You’d come out of the gates on fire. “Excited! Yes, it’s time to tell my story. I have so much to say, people will want to hear my message. The story is so good!” And you’d write. One post, maybe two posts. If you’re really motivated, you might write a week, or even a month’s worth of posts. And, you’d share them with your friends and your family.

“Hey, check this out, I wrote this. Can you give it a look, maybe a comment, or a “like” or  a ❤?”

But no one would really be that interested. Sure, your mom and dad, your employees, your friends (the really nice ones), would take a look at one, or two of them, until you’d be just another voice in the crowd, another distraction among the other thousands each person must deal with each day.

The point isn’t in just telling your story, it’s in making your story worth hearing.

While your voice is important, and your story matters, the real way to be heard is to start by listening. Answering questions, letting other, important voices be heard too — lifting the voices that matter above the noise and sharing a glimmer of what’s important in this world filled with click bait and fake news. Giving a little, gets you so much further today than it ever has, because, quite frankly, we’re all wanting the same thing, and the ones who are going to get what they need, are the ones who step forward and give it to others first.

I don’t suggest that this is easy. But I do suggest that it is necessary.

This story starts now, but it really started in the crummiest time of my life, when I was playing at being a victim. Pressure was scary — and I did everything I could to avoid finding myself feeling remotely pressured to do, say or be anything.

And, I was miserable — and really, really lonely.

The good thing about the story, is that it didn’t end there. I eventually learned to lean into the pressure and discovered something totally unexpected in that space that I had so long avoided — real, unadulterated joy. Pleasure, fun and even elation were sitting there waiting for me, when I stopped hiding from my gifts and, instead, started claiming them.

Chrissanne Long - Pressure is A Privilege

Thank you, Billie Jean King (via Serena Williams)

This summer, I had the opportunity to listen to Serena Williams speak about her pregnancy, her new efforts to end abuse and, of course, reflect on her success. What struck me the most about her talk was what she said about pressure. An insight that she borrowed from another tennis great — Billie Jean King. The success she enjoys today, she described has, invariably — but maybe not so obviously, resulted in another challenge. Championships, record-breaking and accolades have led to the unsexy side of fame — pressure. Most people don’t think about this. We look at these superstars, the record-breakers and the top of the charts, and we idolize them. But, at the top, pressure is at its highest, and more than we care to realize, this pressure hits a breaking point, and stars begin to fall.

Serena, in her authentic, giving way, explained that there, in the spotlight, the challenges that were as a result of being AWESOME, were a privilege that comes with that honor. Yes, being awesome, truly living and leaning into the world, comes with the distinct and not so savory opportunity to fail in the middle of the world. The pressure of making it, means whatever you do now, becomes something everyone is watching to see what happens next. Everyone knows you can’t be a champion forever. Your book won’t always be on the bestseller list, you’re record will be broken. And they want to see what you do under more pressure.

They want to see you when you fall.

This is a phenomena that is not likely to change. I was introduced to this in my AP English class my senior year, while reading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: when Marlow laments about “the fascination of the abomination,” and it’s the reason the Interstate stalls when there’s a fender bender — because human beings are fascinated by the scary, the freakish and, the failures. It makes us feel safe, it props us up and allows us to feed the stories that have been allowing us to live in our comfort zones. It’s a protective layer, and — it’s holding us back from being better, great and awesome.

As a kid, I adored Drew Barrymore, and when her life became too much for her to handle, and it fell apart at the seams, the gossip, the rumors the “tsk tsk” from others as she fell from grace, were my first living example of this that I can remember — and my first realization that being a superstar was unforgiving, and even scary, because watching her life unfurl was devastating for me as a young kid. Why did everyone have to be so judgmental? Today, for me anyway, fascination of the abomination is the only answer that makes any sense.

Serena talked about the work it took to climb that mountain of success — to become a champion. Commitment to her purpose was always at the forefront of every action. Every day, she worked at her goal. And, as we all know, she got there. But for her, the story doesn’t end there. And that’s the purpose of this post.

Staying on the Mountain

If you’re like me, your goals are a little less audacious than winning Wimbledon, or becoming a superstar, but whatever your dreams, they are incredibly precious and important. We are all climbing our own mountain. But, what happens when we actually get to the top? The answer could be as simple as, “go find another mountain.” But the truth is, there’s a lot more to it than that. We have to find a way to stay on the mountain. And that, to me is what struck me the most with the statement Pressure is a Privilege.

Here I am, writing this, because I feel I have accomplished something. And, after all the work, I admit, I am a little tired. And, staying on the mountain is proving to be j

ust as much a challenge as getting here — maybe even more, because, now, I know that it wasn’t all for nothing. That there is something important happening, and instead of going through the motions to see if there’s anything to my dreams, I can see that there is. And, that’s even scarier than what I was feeling when I started this journey. But, pressure — this doubt, uncertainty, restlessness, and fear are all a privilege. This moment, right here, right now — this is when the story gets good. This is when you have to stay the course, and keep believing.

The Resistance is Getting Louder

Yesterday, I told someone that my biggest fear is that the success I have achieved so far has been a fluke. And, as I write that, I know it’s the resistance. Before, the message was different — “you can’t do it, you’re not good enough, this will never work.” And as hard as that was to overcome, this message is even louder, more menacing, more threatening, more gut-wrenching. Today, the resistance is screaming:

t’s all a ruse. You’re a fake. You haven’t done anything important. Nothing you’ve done actually matters at all, who do you think you’re fooling?”

And that, my friends, is what privilege is all about. Yes, as ugly as the resistance is, it’s going for that most vulnerable space, because it knows exactly where it is. And, because you have gained some traction, because you defied its power over you, you have to pull out your stronger game. You have to be ready to up the ante and level up. You have to get ready to start all over again.

Because, the alternative, is not the option you want — you didn’t work this hard for this long, to just climb back down the damn mountain, and walk away. Your work means something because it’s your work. Stay on the mountain, not only is it your right, and privilege. It’s now your responsibility. We need you to keep believing. Because we’re watching and we’re believing in you. And, that is the greatest privilege of all. Now, you are able to teach others and to lead by your example of faith, and overcoming the resistance, and proving that, yes, a person like you can.

Game on. Go. Go. Go.