At our monthly team meetings, one of our crew members discusses some of our five values: strength, courage, commitment, heart, and spark. This is Brittany’s reflection from this month’s meeting.
Normally, at a YACC team meeting an employee will choose one value and present it. However, this month I choose to pick two values: Courage and strength. Courage is the ability to do something that is frightening, and having the strength to surpass it. Courage and strength are dependent on one another. In order to have the strength to try something new, accept the unknown, or power through life’s challenges, you must have the courage to move forward.
There’s absolutely no shortage of courage and strength in the YACC community, though courage is the attribute that I see most often through YACCers, supporters, volunteers, and through Shave for the Brave participants.
My job here at YACC revolves around Shave for the Brave. Over the past few weeks, we have been planning and brainstorming for this upcoming season, which has me thinking a lot about the previous seasons. I can’t put into words what it feels like to walk into a school and see a strong-willed child jump up onto the stage with the biggest smile as a stylist cuts off all their hair. Mom and dad are standing at the edge of the stage, often with teardrops rolling down their cheeks. But the smile on that child’s face is something extraordinary. The amount of courage these children have is something that I can only aspire to.
And it is because of the strength, courage, and bravery of these children that young adults living with, through, and beyond cancer are able to climb a mountain one year after remission, attend a life-changing retreat in beautiful B.C., or go online and reach out for help and support at any time. These children allow Young Adult Cancer Canada to help young adults as they reach their peak of uncertainty.
The courage and strength that I see every day at YACC is truly admirable and is something that I can only hope to show one day.
