035: Sarah Thebarge, Moving Out of Fear Into Love as an Enneagram 6
I’ve said it before, Sixes are wonderful. They have a strong need for security and consistency. Sixes appreciate order, plans and rules and like the comfort and predictability of laws and guidelines. But their passion is fear, which is often experienced as anxiety. Anxiety is a vague, free-floating sense of apprehension that arises in response to an unknown or potential threat that may never materialize. So, how do Sixes achieve spiritual growth?
A lot of Sixes think the answer is bravery, but there’s never enough bravery to fill the bucket of “this is a scary world and I need support.” But in today’s episode, Sarah Thebarge shares the difference between bravery and courage and how making that distinction has been helpful for her as an Enneagram Six.
Sarah Thebarge is a speaker, blogger, journalist and author of The Invisible Girls, a memoir that weaves her story of nearly dying of breast cancer in her 20’s together with the story of a Somali refugee family she met on a train in Portland, Oregon, as she was recovering from her cancer treatments.
The Invisible Girls is a World Magazine Notable Book and was also chosen as the First Year Experience book by Mississippi State University.
Her current book, THE WELL: Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa, is a deeply personal account of what practicing medicine at a hospital in Togo taught Sarah about how each of us can heal the cracks we see in the world around us.
Sarah’s blog was featured by MSNBC.com. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic, USA Today, Everyday Health, Relevant Magazine, Christianity Today, Huffington Post, Red Letter Christian and Sojouorneers.
As a speaker, Sarah is a regular at retreats, churches, colleges and conferences. She has spoken at Donald Miller’s Storyline Conference and the Jubilee Conference, as well as more than 40 universities and colleges. In addition to speaking to large assemblies, Sarah gives talks on the topics of International Aid, Health Communications and Public Health, and teaches nonfiction writing workshops.
“Being brave is when you don’t feel afraid so you take risks or do dangerous things. Being courageous is when you feel all the fear but you choose to do it anyway because there is something more important at stake.”