WE CAN EXPRESS OUR COURAGE BY BEING VULNERABLE
Perhaps courage is not just a distant mountain, but a daily terrain we traverse, where we navigate unknowns, and overcome by learning to pace ourselves as we navigate our way through.
There are many ways that we can practice courage in our daily lives:
We can practice courage by looking ahead with hope.
We can express our courage by being vulnerable, expressing our gratitude, and appreciation for others. We can also be courageous when it comes to being kind to ourselves.
The reason why recognizing courage as a part of being kind to yourself is important is because it can be challenging to be kind to yourself in various situations. For instance, it may be tough to allow yourself to take time off when you're inundated with work. It can also be difficult to be kind to yourself about your feelings when you're still learning to accept their validity. It may also be hard to be kind to yourself regarding thoughts when everything feels entangled.
When you find yourself in that place, remember this: any time spent pondering how you can be kind to yourself is a part of the process you're learning how to embrace, and it is worth acknowledging. You may not have untangled all your thoughts yet, but you're still allowed to acknowledge the progress you've made in being kind to yourself, for this requires immense courage.
Perhaps courage isn't a destination we simply arrive at, like a doorstep in the wilderness, but rather a landscape filled with elements of diverse terrain that we navigate through each day. By practicing courage, we are able to practice overcoming what makes it hard to be kind to ourselves.
So, if you're unable to be the most courageous person in one go, it doesn't mean you can't experience courage. If you've known many years, or even decades of your life, where you've been unable to be kind to yourself, it's never too late to embark on that courageous journey of giving yourself the time and space for self-kindness.
Remember, it's never too late to ask yourself these kinds of questions:
"Am I pushing myself too hard without adequate rest? Do I need to take a break?"
"Am I setting unrealistic expectations for myself? What pressure can I take off myself?"
"Are the standards I'm holding myself to fair, or are they influenced by external pressures?"
"Am I constantly comparing myself to others? Can I begin to focus on my own journey instead?"
"Am I speaking to myself with kindness and respect, as I would speak to someone I care about?"
If you don't have immediate, full-sentence answers to these questions, that's okay. Focus on at least one that you feel you can carry with you through the landscape of life over the next few days. The importance of giving these questions space is that it allows you to remind yourself that it can take time, support, and grace to even figure out what you may need... and even the process of accepting that is an act of courage all on its own.
More in this week's series called "Being More of Who You Are Right Here", only with a subscription in the Storyteller App.
More tomorrow…
Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols
