In yesterday’s post, we riffed on behaving boldly, no matter your title or job description. Whenever possible, we provide a platform for those willing to speak up, take action and inspire us to move. Today’s powerful example comes from Kelly Nash, currently walking the walk and carrying a strong mind through her own career. Read, learn and enjoy. 

There is no such thing as an innate ability to rise to the bold occasion before you. It’s a mental choice. I’ve never thought of myself as fearless.

For me, it’s not necessarily interesting to play a strong, fearless woman. It’s interesting to play a woman who is terrified and then overcomes that fear. It’s about the journey. Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s overcoming it. – Natalie Dormer

I dreamed of being a television host since I was a little girl watching Joan Lunden on Good Morning America with my parents. At the time, they were intrigued and a little confused about why I loved the news so much at such a young age.

I started taking steps toward my goals even then. I would practice newscasts with my girlfriends on playdates and tour news stations at ten years old. As I got older, I used every connection I had to get introduced to local reporters in Miami.

I had a vision for my future.

But merely having that vision was not enough.

In 2010, I faced a crossroads. I could take the perceived easy route or jump at my chance to put my vision on a path to reality.

As I was doing several internships at news stations, I noticed a trend. I found myself becoming simply a voyeur. I was allowing myself to be cast aside, brushed away, not learning much of anything other than how to stay out of someone’s way. Once I acknowledged this in my mind, I knew my attitude would have to change.

I have spent many hours in my head wondering why some people chase their dreams while others settle for less. Less than who they are. Less than what they’re put into this lifetime for. I wasn’t going to cut it in the field if I couldn’t assert myself. I wanted to achieve my goals in more than just my mind; I wanted to live them. I had to start acting on that.

Success, to me, is the loss of mental restraints in order to live your life how you’ve always envisioned. Fear can mean the demise of that dream, because it prevents you from tapping into who you really are. I knew I couldn’t let my demise come as a result of fading away into a wallflower role. I had to take a leap into action.

I walked into WPLG news in Miami on my first day of my fourth internship. (Yes, fourth.) The memory stands out clearly in my mind. I walked up to the sports director, Steve Zager, and told him I wanted to be “pushed off the deep end”.

Guess what? He pushed.

Day two of my internship saw me at the Miami Dolphins training camp, responsible for reporting on a scrimmage and conducting all the player interviews after that. Day three, I was at Miami Heat practice, putting a mic and questions in front of the newly united Big Three: Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

Intense? Certainly. But not even five years after that, here I am.

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.  – Kurt Vonnegut

My interviews with the Big Three went so well it lead to covering more Heat practices, and my interviews with them resulted in getting my first paid job as a host in the business.

Hard work and patience are critical skills needed to achieve your dreams, but they mean nothing when you are afraid to step out into territory that makes you feel a little uncomfortable.

It’s impossible to feel fear and push forward. It’s only when you decide fear is not something you feel towards something that will allow you to go to for it.

Sometimes you just have to throw it all in a hot skillet and see how the stir fries.

– Kelly Nash