COURAGE MONTH: DAY 28: “We must have courage to bet on our ideas, to take the calculated risk, and to act. Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness.”― Maxwell Maltz
We all have skills and talents that we judge and have been judged for. To dare to use our skills and talents in creative and unusual ways requires a certain amount of courageousness.
Others will tell us, as if they know anything, what they think. My experience is that most of the people I encounter come from Ego, so they are filled with fear about why nothing will work out. They have never risked anything, so do not have a clue what it means to really put themselves out there in a daring way. I learned when I was about 12 or 13 to just learn to go for it in life.
I dared ridiculously. I learned to hitchhike so I could go and do big things that were interesting to me in the world. I snuck out of my home; in those days we were called run-aways. I went to concerts and even travelled to Monterey at 13 for the first big festival because I heard the music and the people were going to be amazing. They were. I fell in love with the lifestyle of the hippies and went on to do a lot of the things that I learned in that week.
I began to write when I was 11 or 12. I entered contests for writers in my age group and won awards and prizes throughout my youth. I stopped writing in my 20s for publication, but journaled and wrote short stories of the amazing adventures I was having, when all my friends and family from childhood stayed home and had babies and husbands and divorces…in varying order.
I skipped out on the traditional college trip to learn to surf and get involved in a music business a man I met thought I would be helpful at. I was, it was great! I did not stick with his company, but went on to do that kind of work off and on for many years.
I have lived in 77 different homes (where I had an address). But also camped a lot for months at a time, travelling and hitchhiking for several years when younger. I don’t do that anymore, but I do move a lot.
My resume is crazy, as is my reputation for being “responsible” to many people’s minds. I don’t do anything that is irresponsible, but I have never really wanted to “settle down” anywhere. It just isn’t how I am made. I love to have adventures and am likely to pick up and move on a whim to a place I have never been before. Why not? It makes a great story and it also keeps me young and energized to explore and learn a new place and make new friends. The world is full of beautiful places, and I want to experience them more fully than a week at a time.
Dolphin Hug 