I was fortunate to get this book as an audio gift from my wonderful sister-in-law Maureen.

The title is taken from a speech given by  Teddy Roosevelt from 1910:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

I was afraid that while I really enjoyed Brown’s TED Talk, a whole book dealing with the same issues would be repetitive and become something that sounds good theoretically, but not really applicable to real life.

Not at all. It gets better the more you get into it.

I’m so glad it’s in audiobook format! it’s almost as if Brown is talking to me (the reader is great!) personally, and its very affirming to hear these messages and think about these things while making the evening salad every day!

I now consider my photo-storytelling project a form of Daring Greatly. I’m not posting photos because I think I’m the world’s best photographer. Hardly! I’m posting them to share a story of how one can find wonder, beauty and oddity every day in the small city in which I have been living for so many years. If I had waited till I get the art of photography down pat, the project would never have taken off and I wouldn’t even be seeing the things I now notice.