It has taken me so many years to truly grasp and even begin to live out what it means to be brave.

I lived in the world of just not believing I was good enough, or capable enough.  You see, I had been told by the most important person in my life that I was not good enough, and sadly I believed it for too long.  I had been comparing myself to others and what I perceived their perfect life to be, so it was easy to default believing lies about myself. It took a traumatic turn of events to begin the journey to stop comparing and learn to live in the truth of who I was.

I started to be brave.

My passion for helping others through rough times and take bold steps was started as I realized I needed to keep on taking those bold steps. Sometimes to be brave meant I got out of bed in the morning and took my children to school or to whatever event they needed to get to. Sometimes it was just simply knowing I needed to be strong to get through the day and take one small step after another. It often was just taking that next step, without knowing the whole picture or plan. What does being brave mean to you?

What does a brave step look like in your life?

The definition of brave is to possess or show courage, or as a verb it is to meet courageously … and my favourite definition is to “make a fine appearance”. Some days that is what I did, I made a fine appearance and met the next step courageously. That fine appearance didn’t always look neat and tidy thought, it often looked more like a stumble into the room. Sometimes we just need to make the appearance, and that is fine.

To be brave can often be a hard thing to define. You see, it can be just to get out the door for work or putting someone else first when you don’t want to, or how about applying for that job you really don’t think you are good enough for, but you really want. Women can be brave in so many ways, and yet we can so easily keep ourselves in one spot because we don’t think we are capable or deserve more. But so often what we need to do is just be brave, just take that next step borrowing other’s confidence in us until we believe in ourselves. When my kids were going through those teenage years I so often would remind them, “just borrow my confidence in you until you have your own”.

I have learned so much through this journey of mine in learning how to be brave.  

I needed to learn who I was created to be, and that took time.  If often looked like just believing what others saw in me and encouraged me in.  One of my brave steps was to learn to be comfortable in my own laughter.  Laughter is such a healing gift to us, but I had been told for so long that my laugh was too loud that I had become accustomed to being self-conscious every time I laughed.  I still laughed, and I believe that was one of the strongest gifts that pulled me through some hard times.  Until … one by one my friends and family would remind me how much they love my laugh that I started relaxing and one day I realized I didn’t think about it anymore.  Learn who you were created to be.

Make sure you surround yourself with people whose confidence you can borrow.

Keep those people who love you, are positive builders in your life, and whose confidence you can borrow close to you.  Listen to their affirming comments about how they see you and learn to step forward in confidence.  You will be amazed at what steps and changes you make in a very short period of time.

One of the best things I learned to do was to know the truth and to walk in it. 

Stop and ask yourself if what the things you are believing about yourself is truth.  If it is not, then recognize it as a lie, and take the brave step forward.  I heard it said that the most successful people rarely had their success handed to them, rather it was due to doing something over and over again until they learned and mastered it.  So I am practicing and take one brave step after another.  Whatever that next step is, I want to take it.  Today that brave step is writing this first blog post.  I would have never believed, not that long ago, that I would have a blog post. 

Join me, will you?  Let’s take one brave and courageous step after another and let’s make a fine appearance together.   I want to help and empower each one of you to take bold steps. This blog is one of those bold and brave steps.