COURAGE MONTH: DAY 2: “Courage to me is doing something daring, no matter how afraid, insecure, intimidated, alone, unworthy, incapable, ridiculed or whatever other paralyzing emotion you might feel. Courage is taking action….no matter what. So you’re afraid? Be afraid. Be scared silly to the point you’re trembling and nauseous, but do it anyway!”― Richelle E. Goodrich
There have been thousands of times when I was afraid of something I had to do, but was able to walk through that fear and do the thing anyway. Every time I ever speak publicly, my old ideas of not being liked come up. But those of you who know me can testify that I can (literally) talk for hours about recovery and healing in any setting.
I love this quote. It reminds me of all the things I was once afraid of. And how they are no longer fears in my life. That is a beautiful testimony to recovery. I remember being new and someone told me, “Just feel the fear and do it anyway.”
I have had a lot of surgery since coming here. Then there are the court appearances early on when I thought I would be sentenced to long times in prison. And then I got to become an expert witness in several types of court cases and appeared in court to testify hundreds of times. I was nervous every time, but was able to show up.
Job interviews, we all know how many jobs I have had…lol…I actually had to face the idea of rejection each and every time…yikes! But I suited up and showed up. Every single time! And in later years, there were quite a few rejections. Never easy, but you just do life anyway.
Death. Walking through someone’s death when you want them to live. I have done that more times than I care to say. For and with people who were very precious to me. You just show up. Not just afraid here either, but horribly sad and wanting to hide for sure.
Facing the music when I knew I had hurt someone or done something I knew was not right. Ugh! And showing up to clean it up, even when I did not want to. That is what we do when we live this life of principles. No matter what!
And every single time, I was braver for the experience of “just doing it.” My favorite motto. Any courage I may have today is the result of all the thousands of times I have done what was in front of me, no matter what my damn head had to say. I just shut down Ego and walked into each one of those times, and it all was okay. I have spoken up when it was the right thing to do, even when my voice was shaky or my legs threatened to give out. We just show up. Period.
Dolphin Hug 