I can take the next thing that comes along.
– Eleanor Roosevelt

Today’s post was to share a bold quote from a list of Eleanor Roosevelt’s inspiring words. Drat! Darn! And, well, Phooey!

When looking for more information, I learned Mrs. Roosevelt never said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” QuoteInvestigator reports that phrase is from Mary Schmich’s June, 1997 essay.  In it, the Chicago Tribune columnist advised, “Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.”

Schmich further suggested that, every day, we sing, floss and “Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.”

Forty years before, in 1960 Eleanor Roosevelt published “You Learn by Living” with a chapter titled, “Fear—the Great Enemy.” There, Roosevelt wrote, “Fear has always seemed to me to be the worst stumbling block which anyone has to face. It is the great crippler. Looking back, it strikes me that my childhood and my early youth were one long battle against fear.”

In time, the First Lady realized, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. … [Then] You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’”

Roosevelt reminds, “The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

What’s a good way to pursue something special but scary? Try this post’s video. Dance along!

Succeed and Soar!

Last lines from the disco-fabulous film Saturday Night Fever: Do you know what I’m gonna do? Do you know what I’m gonna do? Strut. Dance along to “Staying Alive.” Click on image to view. [01:24 minutes]

Celebrate!

For several weeks, Earth has zoomed [at 67,000 miles per hour, whoosh!] through a long ago comet’s dust trail. When particles enter our atmosphere, they flare. The Perseid Star Showers sky show continues through August, peaking August 11-13.  Here’s how to see them.

also

Succeed and Soar’s “Eleanor’s Insights” series is illustrated with my photographs of ‘wild places.’

Forests can be such restful and mysterious worlds. Sometimes, woodlands seem to hold secrets.  I like this photograph because of the green and because it makes me ask: What awaits?

My art is available as prints on assorted, high-quality papers, framed and on canvas with various borders and widths.

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