Run Towards the Danger

By confronting the things that are holding you back, you may be surprised at what you can do

By Geoff Dueck Thiessen, Regional Director, Winnipeg Member Centre

I was driving home from an evening of work out of town, and I came upon an interview with Sarah Polley about her book Run Towards the Danger. I knew of Sarah first from her roles as a Canadian child actor and second as a writer and filmmaker.

I was drawn into the interview in which she shared about some of the challenges in her life, including a high-risk childbirth and a concussion. Her basic point? Confront the things that are holding you back.

Last fall, Hanover School Division EAs went on strike for three weeks. One way to look at that was they were running toward, not away from, the danger. There were lots of reasons not to strike, but the group knew that the costs of running away outweighed the costs of doing the hard thing.

So many members told me, “I never thought this would be me, doing something like this!”

Now, I’m curious. What other “dangerous” things will folks be up for, having done the strike thing?

Think of something hard to do which you haven’t yet done. If you’ve never climbed a mountain, or run five kilometres, or learned a language, or fostered a child, or spoken in front of a group of people, you might not think you can. But once you do it, and learn that it’s possible, the next time is typically easier.

Personally, I didn’t know I could do all of the things I did during the Hanover EA strike. Knowing I can do them makes me more willing to run toward the danger next time.