Today, the teacher asked this tiny troupe of dancers to stand up and demonstrate a series of ballet positions. Starting with the first position, plié, etc…

Then she framed the next question, “This is a really hard one, I bet no one knows this one… what is a ‘Battement Arrondi’?” One tiny hand shot up high. It was only her second class, but Ella confidently offered to guess and demonstrate.

She of course had NO CLUE… and if you zoom in, you can see the shocked look on the teacher’s face at her youngest new student taking on the hardest question.

I was also shocked and so proud at my little girl bravely volunteering despite the teacher’s preface that “no one would get it right.” She decided to take a chance and go for it anyway, having absolutely ZERO idea what she would do when she stood in the middle of the circle to demonstrate. I also thought to myself “I would never do that!”

I am so focused on keeping her safe (I’d bubble wrap her if I could), I rarely stop to think about how I can encourage her to take risks. This moment stopped me in my tracks. She’s brave in spite of me… thank god.

But it got me thinking…

As she continues to grow, how do I help nurture her fearless spirit and ensure that she continues to feel confident putting herself out there, taking on tough challenges, and standing up to uncertainty?

As adults… how can we reclaim our courage, and how can we foster its continuing development in our children?

After class, I showed Ella the picture I took and told her how proud I was of her courage.

I told her that taking the chance was more important than being right.

We all have access to the courage that Ella demonstrated. Most of us can remember a time in our youth when we had the confidence to speak up, even when we didn’t know the answer.

But, at some point, that instinct was replaced with fear and self-doubt, and we began to replace it with perfection and the idea that we had to get it right all the time.

Are we too focused on being right and perfection, to take a chance? Is fear of XYZ holding back your next move? Leave a comment below or write an email as I’d love to hear your thoughts.