The courage

I was told when I was younger, that courage is……those really big things…………When you do that bungee jump, when you climb that steep mountain, when you go on the highest slide.

I was told it was the cliff dive, swimming in the middle of the ocean, the fastest roller coaster ride, a speech for an audience….

I now think that courage…. can be that.……for some….

but:

Dear bungee jumper, roller coaster rider, cliff diver, ocean swimmer and public speaker:

Have you ever had the courage to:

Speak your mind and truth, even when everyone opposed you?

Be different than the crowd?

Overcome the panic attack, that hit you alone, in the middle of the night?

Do you have the courage to:

Live with chronic pain and still show up?

Carry the disappointment of wishes and dreams unfulfilled?

Really deal with challenging, deep emotions, passing through you?

Set a boundary, for the first time?

Keep your personal space only for those who value you?

The courage to:

Work on addictions?

Be a cycle breaker?

Start your healing journey?

Regulate your own emotions during your child’s meltdown?

Show up as yourself, unmasked?

Fail repeatedly and still start over the next day?

Be the nail that sticks out?

Realise reality is not what you thought it was?

Have you ever shared the untold story that burned your insides, restlessly waiting on your tongue and fingertips for the longest time?

Can you be courageous enough to:

Know that some of those who mistreated you, will project and see you as the villain in their story?

Hold the shattering pain of grief, in any form, of a life no longer existing, but a coat you still have no choice but to wear?

Let a biting rage run through you?

Would you go for the adrenaline rush of the roller coaster, without a second thought, but prefer to avoid self-reflection?

Courage can be many personal things. Some of the above, none of the above. The cake you refused. The person you confronted. The boundary you set. The page you wrote. The tears you shed. The step you made out of bed. The meeting you declined. The trip you booked. Big or tiny, anything that feels as the dragon in that cave FOR YOU. Until you have faced your own inner shadows, have you fully known courage?

“The moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep. You become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart. The roar of Freedom.” ~Osho

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” ~ Joseph Campbell

“Our deepest fears are like dragons, guarding our deepest treasure.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Much love to all you courageous ones, in any personal form. I am rooting for you. Freedom and treasures await. 💖

Silvia