Tip of My Iceberg

Communication is a necessary life skill. I have a knack for talking–some say I talk too much–but it comes easily when I’m with people I can see face-to-face. Or even on a zoom call.

Speaking to a camera with no response from an attentive listener isn’t my thing.

I was asked by a dear friend to create two videos describing how I work with a particular assessment. I’ve been using StrengthsFinders and CoreClarity for over ten years, and I believe them to be one of the best and easiest assessments to translate into working equity, helping a person see themselves more clearly and utilize their talent set more efficiently.

There was the rub. Talking to a camera with no friendly face behind it to encourage or smile at me was impossible. I messed up so many times that I questioned whether I could get through it. Gratefully, my daughter was the one doing the videoing, and she knows how to edit.

I wanted to edit myself out altogether.

We’ve all had opportunities where we’re up against something new and unexpected. Sometimes daily. Some space where we’re challenged with questioning our competence and confidence. Avoiding the opportunity to attempt something new isn’t the answer.

Courage is a learned behavior. As Mark Twain once said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” We often fear the unknown and the uncontrolled. I’d never done a video before, and the knowledge that others would see and assess my mistakes was daunting.

I didn’t want to look incompetent.

We fear because we can’t control our circumstances or other people’s responses. But fear is part of life; we don’t know what we don’t know, and our blind spots often underline our fears. Martin Luther King, Jr. once commented, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Moses is a great example of someone who had to conquer his fear. He’d been raised by Pharaoh’s daughter in the beautiful courts of Egypt. He was the son of Jewish parents and desired to help his own people leave the slavery they were forced to endure. When he made a mistake, killing an Egyptian to save one of his countrymen, he fled in fear, hiding in the desert for forty years.

One day, as he pastured his sheep, he encountered a burning bush that had not been consumed. He moved closer, and God spoke to him from the fire. Five times, God asked Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Five times, Moses refused, afraid nobody would listen to him or believe God had sent him. God finally allowed Moses’ brother, Aaron, to accompany him.

The more Moses obeyed God, choosing to do what God asked of him, the greater his confidence grew to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. For forty years, he led them through the wilderness, being the spokesman for God, helping the people experience God’s provision for them.

When challenged to obey the call of God, Moses didn’t think he could do it. Fear of failure made him hesitate. But God showed him that it wasn’t his faith that was necessary, but God’s faithfulness.

I was terrified to make these videos. Thankfully, Tiffany was able to edit them so I didn’t look like a buffoon. I discovered I could do what scared me if I trusted God to give me His peace and wisdom. I might not have enjoyed it, but I didn’t die making the videos.

It was incredibly uncomfortable. But doable.

(My angsty outtakes.)