Being Brave

Are you being brave today?

Being Brave Today

I decided to be brave today.  Not tomorrow.  Being brave tomorrow is putting it off, and planning something, rather than doing it now.

What does my bravery look like?  It is small, it’s careful, it’s missing much of the time, but it’s also fierce.  For me, it is dealing with the items that come my way that I truly am uncomfortable with, or that I do not know how to do.  I stare at them – and they remain unmoved, disinterested in how I feel about them.

I’m not generally brave.  Determined, absolutely.   But not brave.

Releasing the Old

I am in new territory now, and it’s uncomfortable.  Many of us think that not having to work every day will be wonderful.  And it can be.  But it’s also a very large transition.  We are normally built to expect structure.  Even without a schedule of work, we know the sun will rise and set each day.  We know we need to eat every day.  We know we need to provide guidance to kids so they can grow and be supported.  We build our lives (and our environment) with structure in mind.

So, what happens when we drop our old structures?  It is very freeing, but it can also be uncomfortable, even confusing or frightening, to suddenly look at a future absent structure we have been accustomed to.

Small Braveness

Being brave isn’t about the big things.  Movies have spoiled us.  They can show a character dealing with their usual day, having a major crisis, rising to the occasion, and saving the damsel, the day, the world, all in two hours.  That isn’t life for most of us, thankfully (and if it is your life, hats off to you and thank you for saving the world so efficiently).

Instead, being brave is sorting out the day.  Deciding that the things we want to put off, we do; the things that we dread, we face (even if only a little) and chip away at them.  Finding our own new way to hold our lives, moment by moment.

Doing what we know and understand is pretty easy.  Following our patterns (set structures) is easy.  Doing the new, doing the different – that’s when it starts to get interesting.

Brave is doing without knowing it all, knowing you can make a mistake, maybe miss, maybe not get it all, but still trying.  But it’s every day, and it’s all the things you encounter in the day.  It’s not heroic.  But it is amazing.

Being Amazing

I’ve written before about how change can be uncomfortable.  So, we avoid change – we stare at it and hope it changes for us.  But that won’t get us where we want to be.  The days will not change, our lives will not grow.

Will you decide to be brave today?  It’s not heroic, but it is amazing.  And we all deserve amazing in our day.