Dan Nitro Clark

Raise you hand if you have a fear.

Now, raise your hand if you have tried to conquer that fear. 

If your hand isn't raised, it should be.  Now is the time to pick your biggest fear and kick it to the curb, beat it to a pulp, and slap into submission. 

Riding a bull was one of my greatest fears.  The very thought of scared the crap out me.  Not anymore.

I faced my fear and jumped on the back of 2000 pounds of bucking, twisting, fury. This act of bravery, stupidity, or whatever you want to call it… helped me become an author. 

How?

Because it was a building block. When you, pardon my French, kick the frigging ass of your biggest fear, everything else after becomes a cake-walk in comparison. 

You've have earned that certain "je ne sais quoi."  It's called confidence.   

Think about it: 

After you've swam with the sharks – is it really that hard to make a cold call? 

After you've jumped out of a plane – how tough is it to ask that cute girl or guy in the next cubicle out?   

After you've run a 100 mile marathon – is it really that rough to spend the weekend with the in-laws?

The fact is, these things all become easier because you are now an individual who's slain the dragon, stormed the castle, climbed your mountain that couldn't be climbed.

Writing a book was something that I never dreamed I could do. Either was riding a bull.  But once I rode that bull writing my book "Gladiator – A True Story of Roids, Rage and Redemption" didn't seem so impossible.  

And it sure as heck hurt a lot less!

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.  

Don't get stuck standing still. Take action. Do something. Kick the crap out of one of your fears and see where it leads you. 

Be brilliant!

Dan Clark

Btw — love to hear stories of people conquering their fears and the person they became because of it. 

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Do you remember your best run? I think we all have one that stands above all others. I had mine last week.

It wasn’t about distance. It wasn’t about time. It wasn’t about speed.

 It was about place. The Grand Piton of St. Lucia.

This run was through a sleepy little village island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean called “Fonds Gens Libre” which means “valley of the free people.”  The name of the village hints at its history.  It is where the native runaway slaves (Neg Mawons) and the black freedoms fighter first settled during the slave wars in 1748.

The run started on the outskirts of my fabulous hotel the Jalousie Plantation. Within minutes I disappeared into a lush rain forest and was lost amongst giant ferns and massive bursts of green vegetation.  

I charged through a clearing, ran down a long dirt road past an ancient cacao plantation through magnificent stands of cocoa, banana, and coconut.  As I entered Fonds Gens Libre and raced past the small wooden shacks the speckled the hillside my heart pumped so hard in my chest I could literally hear the battle cries of the ghost of the Neg Mawons. 

I thought about their battles.  The blood spilled for freedom.  And it made me think about our freedoms.  Our great country.  The things we take for granted. 

It made me think about this last year.  The triumphs… the failures… the dreams and the losses.  

I came to an impossibly steep incline – and charged up it for all I was worth.  My heart rattled against my ribs and my lungs burst, then finally hacking, spitting, grunting – I reached the top of the hill.  There I stopped, took a deep breath in, and looked at the valley that spilled into view below me. 

Baptized by the fire and the adrenaline that only a hard run can bring, I'm filled with the desire to be a better man. A better father. A better brother, son, companion and friend.   

And that’s what  a great run is. 

It’s a stage to get to a better part of ourselves.  To hear our inner voice.  To open up that hallowed place within us that allows us to connect with God, Allah, nature, the universe or whatever you may call it.

It’s a place I yearn to return to again and again. 

It’s the reason I run. 

Be Brilliant!

Dan Clark

Btw — this is a shot of the hotel. It's on the beach at the base of the mountains known as the Pitons. 

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