The Reward of Bravery

Difficult conversations scare me. I suppose they scare a lot of people. For years I would harmonize on the outside while I would agonize on the inside about the simplest things.

No more.

In my new commitment to authentic living, I am faced with leaving the old ways of being behind. Charming people will only get you so far. Sometimes being real, I mean busting yourself wide open to the point of being naked, is the key to setting yourself — and that other person — free.

Letting go of old behavioral patterns would scare the pants off of anyone. They were so carefuly crafted, woven like a safety net that we thought would catch us when we fall. In truth, all it does is ensare us further, keeping us from where we are meant to go.

Luckily I have great people in my life who have coached me along the way. With encouraging words they have reminded me that there is no better reward than what comes after an act of bravery.

No medals are awarded to the brave of heart. No ceremonies, bright lights and flashes of medial glory come our way. But life has a way of flinging open doors when windows slam shut. And that in and of itself is reward enough.

If you doubt that courage can make your life sparkle, you may not be ready to do more than put on a brave face. But faces and masks and little white lies we tell ourselves do not invite magic in. In fact those things ensure that magic stays just outside our door, lingering amongst the shadows of our own making.

So speaking out the hard stuff, saying it like it is from the deepest well within ourselves is the way to go.

I’m ready to have that conversation. Or two. Or three. The act of jumping into the Unknown without a parachute frightens me silly, but the idea of allowing that fear to keep us teetering on the edge without taking that leap would surely mean the end for us all.

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