“Be humble, exhaust all your creativity, collaborate, innovate, work hard. Repeat. Isn’t this the greatest leap of faith there is?” –Lindsay Branham
How would you most enjoy to spend your life, if money was no object? If you could go anywhere and do anything, how would you spend your time? We believe the most influential and world-changing people are the ones who discover their purpose and have the bravery to follow it without hesitation. That’s why we’re challenging you to rebel against the forces that limit you and jump headfirst into whatever makes you come alive.
Meet Lindsay Branham
Lindsay is the definition of a rock star. She is the Executive Director of Discover The Journey – a non-profit that creates adaptable media solutions to solve pressing social issues around the world. She spent a few years of working in central Africa and has since followed her love of stories to seek peace for children in armed conflicts (we partnered with DTJ for the making of They Came at Night). She is an amazing human being and an inspiring example of what it means to live courageously.
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A quote I love and live by is a lyric from a Billie Holiday song: “The difficult I’ll do right now. The impossible will take a little while.”
I think it is risky to put your vocation on the line with what you value, be that equality, or a love of other humans, or this lofty desire to see humans treat one another with dignity and goodness. Whenever you attempt to integrate fully, the risks always skyrocket. But it is a privilege to even have this conversation – I am highly aware of the entitlement that comes with even having a choice for my vocation or to marry what I value with what I do. Most of the world doesn’t have that option. If you do, it is a weighty one, and not to be taken lightly. Make it count.
It is scary to put forth original ideas that have not been done before quite the way you want to try them. It is difficult to navigate what is mostly a blank canvas and start to plot a map across the open sea. But therein the mystery is most alive. All my risks have been calculated, even though they scare me every time. The ideas I have attempted end up being a mash-up of the opinions and direction of a whole group of people I respect. That is what makes it special.
I get to learn from and work alongside true heroes. Our partners in central Africa are working every day in their own communities to deliver life-saving services or offer protection or advocate for an end to impunity or violence. I get to see the impact of what that kind of love can do. The most rewarding part is watching empathy unfold. I have seen it occur, slowly in some cases, rapidly in others, across vast spaces of “distance” to bridge gulfs of separateness in places of conflict. This, I have realized, makes everything worth it.
Discover the Journey has a new film underway addressing the sectarian violence in the Central African Republic. Keep up with them by following @DTJ.
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