Brave with a Capital B

In honor of 4th of July, I thought a post on bravery was appropriate. Most of us don't know, nor will every know, the level of courage required to be in the military.

But that's not to say each of us isn't fighting a tiny personal battle each day. The more I study bravery, the more I'm finding just how many I know who are currently in the middle of doing something brave themselves:

+ moving to a new city
+ managing a disease with no cure
+ dealing with a layoff
+ starting a master's degree
+ debating a job change
+ coping with the loss of someone
+ having a baby

I don't think there was one person I talked to who wasn't being courageous in one way or another.

We are all brave, you and I.
 

Bravery shows up practically daily, though we don't call it being brave, we just call it living life.

A few months ago I was honored to be included in ad agency David&Goliath's "Today I'm Brave" campaign. Today, I’m Brave celebrates people performing Brave acts all over the globe. The intention is to inspire others to conquer their fears (mine was whether or not to jump from my full time job into my own business).

Through these stories, you see the impact bravery can have. Our life one minute before can be entirely different one minute after. I encourage you to go to their website and watch a few, they are inspiring.
 

How does being brave show up in your life?

 
Just because you aren't an army veteran, a one-legged Olympian or battling cancer, doesn't mean you aren't worthy of being called brave. There was a time in my life when just getting out of bed was the bravest act I could muster.

We commit plenty of lower case b acts of bravery that mean just as much as bigger outwardly Capital B acts of bravery. Much of what we do on a daily basis requires an enormous amount of courage, despite how small it may seem:

+ the courage to ask
+ the courage to believe
+ the courage to cry
+ the courage to speak up
+ the courage to love
+ the courage to decide
+ the courage to change your mind

I could go on and on. Though however bravery shows up in your life matters not, the mere act of living life qualifies each of us as Brave in some way.

Cheryl Strayed, in her recent book Brave Enough, wrote "Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story...I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave."

Decide you are brave and brave you shall be.

I originally posted this on LinkedIn, but I think it's relevant today on the blog.

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