YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE FEARLESS
You do not have to be fearless,
Doing it afraid is just as brave.
The challenge of starting over is that we are not always ready to. Sometimes we can look and see how life will be easier if things could just stay the same. But as sure as the sun shines, eventually, we find: a new day will call you to wake up before you feel like you are ready. And it is in that space where we start to practice courage. We start to realize that even when we were not ready for change, we could breathe deeply and rise up anyway.
And maybe, in the end, we find that no matter how hard we tried, courage wasn’t something we could plan out and anticipate. Instead, courage looked a lot like finding ways to answer this:
Who will we rise up to be before we feel like we’re ready?
Who might we become if we chose to rise up before we felt qualified or good enough?
What wisdom might we humbly gather if we chose to come forth, despite the fears that try to hold us back?
Perhaps, it would be easier if we felt like we could adequately prepare for every single change. Perhaps it would be more appealing to that anxious part of us to pursue the path that seems to be the most fail-proof. But perhaps, this is also true: we can only grow in courage if we are willing to do it a little afraid. We can only grow in courage if we are willing to accept that even when we give our very best, there is no way to predict a certain outcome. There is no way of knowing exactly how it all pans out. And at the same time, despite those unknowns, we realize that holding back won’t take us anywhere. It’s the coming forth with courage that serves as the entry point into aliveness.
Word of the day: Courage (adv) “used to indicate that something happened or will happen in spite of something else.” (Oxford Language)
Journal: What are you willing to do afraid this week?
“Despite the fear, I am acting on courage today.”
More in this week's series called "We Have Come So Far", only with a subscription in the Storyteller App.
Sincerely,
Morgan
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols
