Wake Up Your Lizzie the Lion

Some fears chase us, but the bravest among us—like Lizzie—run toward the roar. Read on to see how facing fear head-on will lead you to resilience and growth:

The morning after I woke up after delivering my talk on Resilience and Spirituality at the Faith & Life Series [you can watch it here!] in Minnesota, I read the latest article from the next speaker in that series, David Brooks (A Surprising Route to the Best Life Possible, March 17, 2025, NY Times). For anyone who attended my presentation, or will watch it, you’ll see that David’s insights are a great follow up to my talk.  If you have the time, it’s well worth your reading.  

With every paragraph, I kept picturing the face of my daughter, Lizzie, at various ages:  …little girl Lizzie alone on a concert stage with her violin…middle school Lizzie playing basketball for an abusive coach, but refusing to switch teams…high school Lizzie shifting from basketball to high school track despite her fear of vomiting… Senior in high school Lizzie debating a team of interrupting boys at an all school high school debate…12 year-old Lizzie struggling, and succeeding to keep up with her older siblings on a fifty-mile Michigan bike ride in the rain, in loose gravel.  

You’d think I’m just writing to brag about my daughter.  You aren’t wrong, but that’s beside the point.  David Brook’s article is all about the joy of really, really hard work on your way to a goal.  He described how, every morning he wakes up to write 1200 words, and he’s full of anxiety each and every time.  Even so, he loves to write, and would never even think to give it up.  When I read that, I kept thinking about Lizzie’s life-long backpack of anxiety that she inherited from me.  Since the age of six, she’s toiled with “emetophobia,” the fear of vomiting.  When the door closed on her girlhood dream to play college basketball, she shifted to cross-country and track.  Guess what happens really frequently in women’s cross-country and track?  A non-insignificant amount of vomiting.  Lizzie chose exposure therapy…on purpose!  Guess who’s more or less over that fear?  Lizzie!  That’s who.  

There’s an old African story that was making its way around rabbis’ and pastors’ pulpits about ten years ago.  The facticity is probably not as important as the point of the story.  Apparently, as lions age, they lose their speed, their pounce, and many of their teeth.  What they don’t lose is their ROAR!  So the strategy for clever prides is to position the old lions on one side of the narrow valley.  The young, lethal lions and lionesses are positioned on the other side of that same valley.  When the wildebeests make their run through the valley, the old lions roar, and roar!  The frightened beasts run away from the noise, straight toward their demise.   The moral of the story?  Don’t run away from the roar.  Run toward it.  My daughter, Lizzie, runs toward the roar on a daily basis.  Will you join me in trying to grow up to be more like Lizzie?  

Dialogue: Use these to dialogue with those in your life or share with Dr. Tom and the Sunday Morning Cafe community in the comments below.

• Where is that frightening ROAR coming from at this time in your life?

• What would “running toward that roar” look like for you?  

• What kind of support systems would have to be in place for you to productively move toward the roar (EG. counseling, spiritual direction, a weekly cup of coffee with a supportive friend)? 

• What is your history of things that made you want to work really hard because it was worth it to you?  

• Do you have a goal or a project at this time in your life that makes you work really hard, but in a good way?