When you think of courage or someone who is courageous – what do you think of?
If I asked myself that question when I was much younger I would have said people who were courageous were fire fighters, soldiers and the like. I thought of courage as something that was grand, heroic and likely to end up on the nightly news.
As I have gotten older and had the chance to work with and meet some amazing people, I have come to realise that courage does not always show itself in situations that are highly dramatic and newsworthy. In fact, I am now quite certain that the overwhelming majority of the time that is not the place where courage resides.
I feel very priveleged to receive contact from many people who read Beautiful You, telling me about different life experiences they are going through such as being on the path to recovery from an eating disorder or coping with depression and self esteem issues. I can feel and see your hearts literally beating through the words you write.
I want to let anyone who is reading this know that no matter where your life is at the moment – up, down, a mess, a joy, or something in between…you have courage. You may not think about it often or even reading the last sentence think “No, I don’t. Not me.” But I’m here to tell you, you do.
If you are facing a mental or physical health issue and are trying to do all you can to make that better…you have courage.
If you are getting out of bed every day and smiling through pain, whether emotional or physical…you have courage.
If are saying your sorry, trying to forgive someone or learning from a mistake, wrong or total stuff up…you have courage.
Don’t ever forget that as you go about your day, week, month, year and life. You are stronger than you think. You can overcome. You can achieve. Most of all, as the poet EE Cummings says here, you do have the courage to become who you really are. The world is waiting for you.
This lovely print is by Born Barefoot.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The quote above from E.E. Cummings is a big part of what courage means to me.
One of my favourite quotes from Cummings is this:
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
This is the fight that i am fighting every day, & it is a fight that i think takes a lot of courage.
Whenever i see someone going through a rough time, but not giving up no matter how hard it might be – i think that shows great courage.
When someone is standing up for what they believe in, even though they might be ridiculed for it – i think that's courage too.
There are so many different examples of courage that i see in people all of the time. Most of the time, these people aren't able to recognise what they are doing as courageous, but it's so easy for me to see it in them. We all have courage, & i want to thankyou for reminding us all of that
I love your blog and wish I could subscribe by email.
I always let my boys know that even though they are scared/fear something but do it anyway…that's super courage.
Great post. Thankyou, just what I needed