Being Brave

I admire bravery. I’ve written about it before, but today it is again much on my mind after spending the weekend with some amazingly brave women. I strive towards bravery. Some days just getting out of bed requires all of the bravery I can muster. Other days bring other challenges. It takes bravery to have minority political beliefs in an overwhelmingly red state, it takes bravery to stand up to ignorance and small minds, it takes bravery just to be me.

I’ve been pretty brave this year. One morning I heeded the words in this quote: “Actually, I just woke up one day and decided I didn’t want to feel like that anymore, or ever again. So I changed. Just like that.” It sounds funny to say a quote changed my life, but it kept popping up in odd places and resonating with me. So I changed. Not quite “just like that.” I am a work in progress. It takes bravery. The women I spent the weekend with raised the bar on this whole bravery thing. I am so fortunate to have them in my life, as friends and mentors. I am humbled by their bravery.
 

One friend is a fearless traveler. When her sons were young she loaded them in the car and set off across the country. Later she traveled across Europe with them. More recently she hiked Salcantay Mountain pass in Peru onto the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, dragging me along with her. She is heading to Australia next. She also went back to school for a second degree and began a new career at a time when others were retiring. She is brave.

Another of my weekend companions was brave to haul a 28-foot Airstream trailer through Houston and across the state of Texas to join us. I could never do that. It saps my bravery reserves just to drive to my sister’s house in Houston. This friend has also been brave enough to choose love in spite of social mores and political and religious dogma being against her. That’s brave.

It takes bravery to run a business and be assertive in our male dominated society. That’s what another of my friends does. It took bravery to silence the voice of her mother and others that told her she wasn’t good enough, wasn’t capable enough and make the leap to greatness.

The youngest woman in our group this weekend is perhaps facing the biggest challenge of all. She is a new mother. That calls for a lot of bravery. Raising a child, standing up for the child, doing what is right by the child is a difficult job. It takes more bravery than anyone realizes to be a mom.

I wonder what bravery this baby girl will be called upon to exhibit in her lifetime. Will the bravery of those who came before make it easier for her? Are we, with our brave acts, somehow paving the way? Of course we are, just as the bravery of the millions of women who came before us has done. I can only hope her journey is smoother.

I will continue to be brave. There’s still quite a bit to do. I am a work in progress. We all are.