What’s the trait you value most about yourself?
What I value most about myself is not a single trait but a paradox I live with. I am both daring and patient. I will risk everything when the cause is right, and yet I will wait years if the time is not ready.
It’s a strange marriage of qualities. On the one hand, I am drawn to bold ideas and decisive action. If I believe something is worth doing, I will step forward without hesitation, even if the cost is high. I have staked reputation, energy, and resources on things I believe matter. The willingness to risk is, for me, part of integrity. If the idea is right, if the cause is just, then it deserves more than half-hearted commitment.
Yet, on the other hand, I am deeply comfortable with waiting. I can let an idea rest, even if it is a good idea, because the soil isn’t ready. Timing matters. A seed planted in winter will not flourish, no matter how beautiful the seed.
The poem Dadirri by Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann has always spoken to me. Dadirri is an invitation to deep listening, to waiting on God with stillness and trust. It is not passive waiting but attentive waiting—an awareness that the right moment will arrive, and when it does, action can follow with clarity.
That’s how I understand this paradox within myself. Courage is not only found in the leap but also in the long watch before the leap. Wisdom is knowing when the moment has come.
I don’t always get it right. Sometimes I leap too soon. Sometimes I wait too long. But when daring and patience meet, there is power: the power to risk boldly, but also to risk waiting until the time is ripe.
The Afterword 
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