The year I chose being brave for my word of the year, everything really started to change.
You can’t be brave and keep hiding. When you choose bravery it filters through every part of your life.
When I used to read the inspirational messages that said “do something every day that scares you” I thought they were talking about things like sky diving.
The year I chose to be brave, I started to understand the things that scare me a little more.
I was scared to love someone who closed their heart to me.
I was scared to have hard conversations.
I was scared to make mistakes.
I was scared to look dumb.
I was scared to take risks.
I was scared of rejection.
I was scared of what other people might say.
I was scared of losing.
I was scared of having less.
I was scared of never having some “thing” again.
And I was scared of so many other things I never even knew I was scared of.
Consciously choosing to be brave didn’t make me any less scared. I am still afraid of almost everything on that list.
But it did teach me that it’s ok to be scared and still do it.
It taught me that the other side of fear is a great place to be.
I learned that I can do more than I ever thought I could.
And it showed me that people are really quite wonderful and supportive of you if you give them a reason to be.
Choosing a really good and “not so relevant to the life you have now” word for the year can make a huge difference to who you are in the next 365 days.
Just for today… and if you haven’t already… think about a word for 2020 that will help you show up differently than you have been.
Not because you aren’t already wonderful. Because you are so wonderful.
But because it really is an adventure to lean into something new. To choose your word over and over again through out the year and see where it takes you.
There is one day left in this decade.
I would love to know which word you choose.