There was a time in my life when I did things people considered really brave. Like moving to the other side of the world or jumping out of a plane or going on vacation to a foreign country by myself. Then I got married, got a normal job, and starting having kids. I didn’t feel like anything I was doing was very brave. Life felt routine and boring. And I just wanted to sit around and watch Netflix all day because I had lost my way in the midst of the ordinary.
Maybe you find yourself in the same situation. Maybe you wake up everyday and look around at the normal, mundane tasks you have to accomplish and wonder or dream about the day you can do something brave again. But here is what I am realizing more and more each day. Being brave doesn’t always look like big, grand gestures such as moving across the globe. Oftentimes being brave can look like inviting your neighbors over for dinner, or teaching your children to be kind to the kids at school, or asking a friend for help when you are struggling. Being brave can look like being nice to the lady at the grocery store or helping the mom struggling with two tiny kids (that’s always me).
We are living in a day where being brave can simply mean going against the status quo. Where it can mean coffee with a friend instead of scrolling Instagram for hours on end. It means calling out the brave in our communities and among our friends. It means celebrating the everyday, normal, brave things we do. Whether those things are potty training or taking new jobs or having dinner with your neighbors or being kind to the server who appears to have had a bad day.
So rather than binge watch another episode of your latest Netflix show or spend another hour scrolling through social media, let’s all work on being brave today. Let’s call it out when we see it, celebrate it, and refuse to allow brave to be only something other people do. It’s not about moving across the world, it’s about taking the first step. Who knows, maybe that first step will lead you across the world, but maybe it will just lead you across the street.
Photo by Christian Stahl on Unsplash
