Courage the ultimate shapeshifter
We often forget the power of courage.
When it comes to confidence in ourselves, it comes from the hard things we sometimes must do in life.
We can’t escape hard conversations or the moments that change our lives forever.
Yes, we can ignore them, hide out under the rug, but that won’t help us or others in the long run.
Where there is fear, you can be sure that courage is not far behind.
Recently I have had to have a few hard conversations. Conversations I never thought I would ever have to have.
It changed me.
That is life.
Filled with beautiful but hard things.
And it is up to us whether we let the hard, difficult conversations, experiences or discoveries shrink our life or grow it.
I have found that loving others has built my courage. For me, my family gives me courage. It is loving them, that I have untapped an inner amber, that has become a raging inferno.
Ernest Hemingway once wrote that “Courage is grace under pressure.”
Ain’t that the truth for many women.
That’s why so many of us are gems, because life can get rocky. And in many cases it us who has to navigate the turmoil, deconstruct the despair and communicate it with grace.
Don’t get me wrong, I have had many days and weeks in the trenches of emotional turmoil and looking for that rug rather than go head on with the hard things. But somehow they end up finding me.
As women we feel the pressure, it is immense, and if you are like me, the pressure can go two ways.
One I underestimate what I am going through. I put it in a place where I try to keep on trucking, not actually allowing myself to acknowledge that some moments in life are heavy.
The other one is I can spiral. I make my own crystal ball which is filled with every worst-case scenario or make up the most ridiculous future forecasts. Cue anxiety.
But I like what Hemingway wrote that courage is grace under pressure.
Grace isn’t just about being stylish or having poise, charm or finesse, but rather good will.
In spirituality grace has the influence to regenerate and strengthen us.
Goodwill is the core of grace, the ability to keep putting one foot in front of the other and to see the trees before the woods.
It is a reminder to be kind, that being scared is a feeling, but it what we create with that feeling that courage takes shape.
And that is what we do as humans, we become shapeshifters.
We shift between the hard moments and the beautiful discoveries. We find courage in the hard moments and a gentle peace in the beautiful ones.
We must have both experiences.
It is what gives us grace, a chance to build our strength- one hard thing at a time.
Big Love
Fallon