"Do it scared.”

- Ruth Soukup

As we begin Women’s History Month, I am astounded when I reflect on the scores of unsung heroines who have changed our world. Women, who were all too often relegated to the fringes of the annals of American history until the latter part of the 20th century, have consistently been at the epicenter of change. Our World Changer of the Month for March, Claudette Colvin, is no exception. In 1955 at the age of 15, Colvin refused to give up her seat for a young white female passenger on a public bus. She effectively, in the words of her pastor, “brought the revolution to Montgomery.”

However, for decades, Ms. Colvin was relegated to the fringes of history by men at the helm of the civil rights movement who preferred to utilize the image of Rosa Parks for various reasons, including their determination that her class, marital status, skin color, hair texture and other characteristics made her a more desirable test case. Parks was the type of lady who complemented the image of the well-dressed alpha male icons that dominated the civil rights movement headlines at that time.

But Claudette Colvin, the first person in Alabama to refuse to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, was not a man; nor was she a middle class, professional, married woman. And by her own account, her decision to resist compliance with a racist law, was motivated by two civil rights icons who had walked the earth long before her, neither of whom were men; nor were they women from a preferred social stratum. Colvin later recalled in an interview that she felt the spirits of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman telling her to remain in her seat and compelling her to resist.

We can learn a great deal from Claudette Colvin, a young Black woman without resources or connections, but with the special ingredient that mattered most: courage.

In the words of author and speaker Ruth Soukup, “Courage doesn't mean we are never afraid, courage is simply daring to take action, despite our fear.” Ms. Colvin was scared to remain in her seat, but she did it anyway.

Is there something that you feel you need to do? Something that is scary and that will force you to traverse uncharted territory? Something that you’ve been putting off because you’ve convinced yourself that someone like you can’t achieve something like that? If so, please remember Claudette Colvin, the scared, 15-year-old girl from the wrong side of the tracks who started a revolution by doing it anyway.

"Every achievement was once uncharted territory.”

- Kimberley Baker Guillemet

Navigating uncharted territory can be scary. However, someone has to be the first.

In 1864, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African-American female medical doctor in the United States. In addition to navigating the academic rigor that is endemic to medical school, Dr. Crumpler had to do so as the first and only woman of color during a time of intense racism and sexism. After retiring, Dr. Crumpler wrote and published what is believed to be the first medical text written by an African-American author.

I can only imagine what Dr. Crumpler had to face to accomplish her goals. They were certainly uncharted territory for a woman and a person of color during her time. Though we are living in a time and space different from Dr. Crumpler, we still must navigate hurdles, both internal and external, when we set out to achieve a new goal.

How do we push past the very real external obstacles of exclusion, sexism, racism, classism and elitism? And, how do we ignore all of the internal insecurities that come up, such as:

• What if I’m rejected?

• What if I’m not good enough?

• What if I don’t pass muster?

• What if people think I’m crazy?

How do you get past all of that and just try? Well, the answer is simple: take the first step. Everything and everyone had to start somewhere. Every trailblazer had to set off on their journey with no roadmap directing their way. They did not have an instruction manual telling them which steps to take.

As this month is Black History Month, we can look to African-American trailblazers who demonstrated courage as they took their first steps into the unknown. There was no roadmap for George Washington Carver to use to discover over 300 uses for the peanut. There was no financial advisor directing Madam C.J. Walker on how to invest and grow her money in order to become the first Black millionaire. There was no roadmap for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to guide him as he strategized and planned a civil rights movement. There was no instruction manual for former President Barack Obama to follow in order to ensure that he would be elected the first African-American President of the United States.

Similarly, there will not be a roadmap or instruction manual for whatever uncharted territory we will have to traverse on the way to accomplishing our novel goals. We will rarely know where the steps in our journey will take us or what our final destination will be, but we have to be brave enough to take the first step.

Is there something in your heart that you have been wanting to do? A goal you want to achieve? I challenge you to take the first step into your unknown, and then, after that, take the next.*

Scary? Yes!

Worth it? Always.

You might just end up changing the world.

* This statement is not intended to incite behavior that is illegal, illicit or unauthorized. All minors should seek the advice and permission of their parents and/or guardians before engaging in any new activity.

"Embrace the Surrender.”

- Kimberley Baker Guillemet

COVID-19.

According to the CDC, COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus discovered in 2019. The virus spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. To date, it has infected over 288 million people.

For me, COVID-19 signifies more than a virus that has swept the world. It reflects a demand for flexibility and nimbleness. Essentially, it has forced me to embrace surrender.

I’ve always prided myself on being organized and having things planned out. This approach to life has helped me ever since I was a young child. Planning always gave me a sense of control when things around me felt out of control.

COVID-19 has forced me to confront within myself my desire for control and ask myself the question: how will you respond when you have absolutely no control over various factors in your life?

It has caused the following questions to emerge over seemingly mundane events such as:

● When will my children return to school?

● How many colleagues will be present at work today to help me accomplish a task?

● Will my daughter’s soccer season be canceled?

● Will my mother be safe attending church?

● Can our family safely gather at our house for Christmas dinner?

These are questions that would not have weighed on me in 2019, yet here we are, at the top of 2022, and they are very real concerns.

We are fortunate that we now have a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as a pill that promises to shorten the length and severity of the virus. Both of these pharmaceutical advancements bring with them a renewed hope for a return to some semblance of normalcy. I’m grateful that we live in a time and space in which we have access to vaccination, medication and different therapeutic options. However, with the Omicron mutation of the virus, and with whatever iterations and mutations of the virus that will emerge in the future, comes further uncertainty. One thing that this pandemic has taught me is that we cannot hang our hope on well-meaning promises. The reality is that we just don’t know. So where do we get our help? How do we proceed when we just don’t know what lies ahead?

Here’s the reality: we have never known what the future will bring. We have lied to ourselves and lulled ourselves into a comfortable mental space where we’ve believed that we knew what was going to happen from one moment to the next and from one from one day to the next. And for many of us, prior to the emergence of COVID-19, we probably were able to make plans and see them actually come to fruition with some regularity. But COVID-19 has reminded us of the truth that we have never known what lies ahead, nor have we had much control over it.

I am choosing to receive that reminder with gratitude and embrace the surrender. That does not mean I have stopped making plans, setting goals or working toward achievements. I will continue to strive to be my best self and set goals that I believe are worthwhile and meaningful. However, when things go awry or do not turn out in the way that I expect or hope, I am learning to surrender and pivot. There is always a blessing that we could not have foreseen when we experience what we did not expect.

As we begin 2022, full of hope for what the next 365 days will hold, I challenge all of us to anchor our hope not in what we think we know or hope will happen, but in the mindset we intend to use when we respond to the unexpected.

Embrace the surrender.