Just living every day is brave. Extraordinary measures are not required.
Last week’s blog post was about dreams. Having dreams and the need to pursue them despite what others may say or feel about them. In that post, I stated that many friends, family, and colleagues remarked that it was “brave of me” to leave my corporate position and start a health and wellness business. However, I never looked at what I was doing as particularly brave, to me, it was transformation through the art of just being human.
In a post-COVID world, a lot has changed. During the pandemic, many people had great awakenings and came to terms with living a life they had not really planned. There were trips not taken, books not read, jobs not applied for, risks not taken, so on and so forth. Being locked away for over a year resulted in a reexamining of everything in their lives they knew they needed to change. For others, they were grateful for the forced shut-down to reset and find their balance again.
In both cases, everyone was a bit transformed. For some it was loud and others it was quiet.
A loud transformation does not make it brave. It’s just a bit “showier” and the ripples spread far and wide. The quiet transformation is just as impactful but happens on a more personal level. The common thread is that both are the culmination of being human.
As we move through our lives, there will be situations where each of these approaches will be needed. One is not superior to the other and use of one or the other has no guarantee of outcomes at all. At the root of both approaches is trust: trust in your belief that a change is needed, trust in yourself that you deserve it, and trust in yourself that you can make it happen.
Trust is the foundation of bravery that leads to the transformation. It can’t happen when you’re feeling unsure of yourself or of others for that matter. And trust takes time.
As children we were brave because we didn’t yet know that we could be hurt until we were. The walls were not yet built. We were born with trust of our abilities, the people around us, and the world. We trusted we would get to the other side of the room without incident. Then, we bumped our head on the coffee table when attempting to crawl. We were brave until... whack!
Our mom, dad or caregiver came to make it all better, but we never quite trusted that coffee table again. We gave it a wide berth or avoided it all together. While we wouldn’t take another chance on the coffee table, in most cases we did trust that help would come to make it all better in the event our heads should be bumped again.
This cycle continues itself throughout life with other furniture, other humans, and most importantly ourselves. It’s the act of being human that drives us to trust, let’s us be brave, we learn the parameters of bravery, and then experience transformation whether loud or quiet. However, when those parameters whack us on the head, we take pause.
It’s human to protect ourselves so our trust is questioned as well. When we begin to pull back on trust in ourselves, our abilities, our dreams, we cannot be brave, we cannot grow, and therefore we cannot transform.
I did not trust that I was capable or worthy of working outside of a corporate environment.
I did not trust that I was able to balance my eating and get back to a healthy weight.
I did not trust that I was able to manage my emotions and stress to balance my mental health.
I did not trust that I could take a stand in my own life to live on my own terms without fear of judgement.
What are your trust issues? What holds you back?
Fear of judgement from others?
Struggles with your relationship with food?
Financial issues?
Dealing with issues from the past?
How do we get back to trusting ourselves when undoubtably many things have occurred throughout our lives to shake that trust?
We do the hard work, even when it hurts.
We look deep inside, even when we want to hide it.
We separate fact from fiction and reclaim what makes us worthy.
We give back to ourselves the trust, love, and respect that we deserve, not what is defined or approved of by others.
Trust that you have everything you need inside of you to be brave.
So, now when people say I’m brave, I tell them I trust myself and that allows me to be brave. The art of being human, and trusting in myself, has allowed me to brave, and transform.
Do you need transformation? Have past or current events or beliefs set parameters in your life that stop you from being brave? Book a complimentary consultation call now to begin building back trust in YOU and prepare to transform!
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Take care and be well,
Courtney
