I’ve got a question for you:
Have you ever stuck with something that didn’t make you happy…
……because it wasn’t bad enough to make you miserable?
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know this is what I call living in “fine”.
😐 “Fine” is that place that’s not bad enough to make us leave, but it also doesn’t light us up…make us happy…make us feel empowered…or make us feel like we’re living our lives on purpose.
I know it well. I lived there for a good chunk of my life in many areas, and I still dance with it weekly, if not daily, especially as an entrepreneur.
❓ Can you relate?
Whether it’s in our careers…our relationships…our family dynamics…our health…our finances…or some other key area of our life…
…it’s easy to get stuck in “fine”.
And I know why we get stuck there. I know why I got stuck there.
😬 Because it’s super scary to leave “fine” when there’s no guarantee that “great” is on the other side! Our mind is way better at telling us how we might end up with “miserable” if we leave this thing that’s “ok”.
To leave that thing that’s “fine”…whether that means actually leaving to go to something else, or simply leaving the current dynamic and doing the hard work of forging another one that feels more joyful…requires a big bet.
💵 You have to bet on yourself and your ability to create the meaningful and fulfilling life you want.
And that takes courage. A lot of it.
😁 Here’s the good news: Dr. Brene Brown’s research shows us that courage is a learnable skill.
😫 Now here’s the bad news: it comes down to these 4 things…
✅ Vulnerability
✅ Clarity of Values
✅ Trust
✅ Rising Skills
Yikes! These are some of the hardest things we deal with as human beings.
👉 Vulnerability means risking being wrong, rejected, humiliated, dismissed, or ignored.
👉 Clarifying our values means doing the deep internal work of figuring out what we stand for and why.
👉 Trust means figuring out how to trust ourselves, how and when to trust other people, how trust gets built – internally and externally, and how it gets broken.
👉 And rising skills – whew! How do we stand back up when we’ve been vulnerable…we’ve stood for our values…and we trusted…
…and then we got knocked on our can.
Rising skills are the resources, tools, and practices we use to scrape ourselves off the floor and try again.
It’s a lot!
Clearly, being courageous means asking a lot of ourselves!
🤷♀️ So why do it? Why take the risk?
⭐️ Because it’s not as risky as the alternative: selling out our most deeply held dreams and desires in exchange for something that feels safe and comfortable.
🔥 It eats away at the very fabric of our soul and that’s why the “risky” choice is never as risky as the “safe” choice.
Courage is hard, but it’s worth it.
To explore your courage and get to know it better, take time to journal on the questions below:
💜 What does it mean to “live a courageous life”?
💛 Describe a time when you surprised yourself by the amount of courage you showed. What happened as a result?
💜 Where in your life would you like to display more courage right now? What’s getting in the way?
💛 In what kind of situation is it hardest for you to be courageous?
💜What skills, resources, tools, or practices do you use to get back up when you’ve made a courageous choice and it didn’t work out?
💛 Who and/or what helps you be more courageous?
💜Name a courageous person that you admire. What makes them courageous? What do you think allowed that person to make the courageous choice(s) they did?
Remember, as Maya Angelou once said, “Without courage, it is not possible to practice any other virtue with consistency.”
Cheering You On!
Terra