Conviction
Growing up I heard this message a lot: don’t just talk about what you believe in, show through your actions that which you say you believe. This was always a big challenge for me—as if I had to muster the strength up to do something I didn’t otherwise want to do, but had to do to show that I believed. It wasn’t that I was afraid to stand for what I believed in as much as it felt uncomfortable. It was awkward. I thought this was normal because taking action for what you believe in is hard, right?
Listening to Rev. Al Sharpton’s Conviction story last Friday did three main things for me:
It made me realize there is nothing keeping me from making an impact.
Most everyone who is doing something amazing started out doing something that was ordinary or at least something they thought was ordinary.
It made me realize that the old me was probably completely wrong about it being hard to take action for what you believe in.
If you believe in something you don’t take action merely to prove that you believe in it, you take action BECAUSE you believe in it. When you truly believe in something you have no choice, but to take action. Conviction isn’t something I needed to have twisted my own arm to a have or do, its the bi-product of having a firmly held belief.
His story also showed me how much of a new me—I am.
My conviction has been growing year over year. But not just growing… Transforming. These days, I hardly find myself saying what I believe (only really saying anything when asked or if I need to create a bio, resume, or provide an ‘about me’). More than anything I am just out doing and being, and these actions seem more natural than how I was trying to prove things before.
I certainly have a ton of more growing to do, but what’s exciting for me to see is that I didn’t go looking for conviction, instead conviction has been finding me… the conviction I have been demonstrating came built into the real beliefs I have acquired along the way. Excited to see where that conviction takes me next.