Yes You Are Brave

Let’s talk sleep. More specifically, what we are giving up by not sleeping. Because it is important, no matter what people claim. And staying awake when we know we need to sleep, for no reason, is just letting fear drive the bus. It is allowing our FOMO (FEAR of missing out) to keep us in a fog. And ironically, keep us from truly being able to live our best life. 

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Join me as we talk sleep. How being brave really can be as simple as turning the lights off and crawling in bed. How taking back our lives can start with saying, “I am done for today.” And allowing yourself to rest. It is a huge brave masquerading as a little brave. Because to sleep as much you need to go against the popular grain. Living in fear (FOMO) is following a massive crowd. And it takes brave to walk away and do your own thing. 

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Full disclaimer, I am neither a doctor nor a scientist. What I am however is a person who has learned the hard way the importance of sleep. Hard-won wisdom through trial and error. Lots of trial and error. But you don’t need to be a doctor or scientist to understand that the human body is amazing. Twenty minutes with a book or documentary will inform you of that. It can do so much, but only if we give it what it needs to flourish. 

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And if you are a parent with small children, this probably does not apply to you. :)

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We all have someone that we look up to. A hero. Someone who inspires and makes us want to do better. Who makes us feel like we can do anything. Many of us have many heroes. But are we forgetting the most important one of all?

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What if we look at heroes differently? What if we changed our expectations and became our own heroes? It sounds a little ridiculous perhaps. But what’s wrong with looking up to yourself? What is wrong with being the person you rely on? What’s wrong with being a hero that comes in and saves you? 

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Come join me this week as we talk about singing our own praises and owning our own greatness. Because you are brave enough to be your own hero. 

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Ever find yourself on a roll? Like things are going well, you are making progress towards your goals. Your dreams are in sight. (Sure you need binoculars, but you can still see them.) And when all is going well, you freak out. A little at first and then more. Then you start looking for a reason to take a detour. Sound familiar. 

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This week we talk about being brave enough to not take that detour. To stay on the path that is going to where you really want to go instead of taking the out. What do we do when we are trying to be different and difficult situations come up? How do we choose to react when the old self and the habits of the new us are at odds? Can we choose the more difficult, but more rewarding path? 

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You are brave, brave enough to keep moving in the directions of your dreams. You are brave enough to NOT take the out. 

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Sometimes life is heavy. Sometimes life is hard. Because things happen that are out of our control. They hurt no matter the brave face we put on. And often we are angry about those things. What do we do with that anger? How do we keep it from consuming us? 

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This week we talk about one solution to dealing with anger when it comes. Or comes again. Instead of trying to fight that anger. Or trying to stamp it out. Or keep it from coming. That we welcome it instead. We pull up a chair and sit with it. Sit with the anger, and feel it totally and completely. Then we let it go. 

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Life is heavy sometimes, and we are angry sometimes. But that does not mean that we can’t still find peace. Tough times can have moments of peace, but that peace is often on the other side of anger. 

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What makes you happy? Seriously what makes you, specifically you happy? As in the different or perhaps odd thing that you love. That you could geek out for hours about. What is that? 

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Today we talk about letting the geek out. Allowing that part of us to be seen. Allowing the feeling of freedom that comes with not holding back. Because we all have something small or seemingly silly that makes us happy. And most of the time we hide that. We stifle our happy because we don’t want to bother those around us. 

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Your geek is a wonderful part of you and they deserve some sunshine. Let them out and let yourself be happy. 

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If you are on a hike, where is your focus? If you are like many people, myself included, it is on where you are placing your feet. Because it is the best way to not fall on your face. And that is a fair thing to want. To NOT fall on your face. (Hey I live in the desert, falling while hiking could very well include landing on a cactus.) 

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But if we only look at our feet, what are we missing? Do we get done and miss all the beautiful scenery? I hope not. Metaphorically and literally. Please don’t miss out on all that life has to offer. Be brave and look up from time to time. Even if that means you need to stop moving. Look up and see the wonderful things around you. Look up and see where you are needed and look up to find life. 

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We get so caught up sometimes in just putting one foot in front of the other that we lose sight of the bigger goal. To actually live and not just survive. Looking up helps us live. Pause and look. Look and find life. 

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We all fall down. It sucks, but it is just a fact of life. At some point or another, we will all fall flat on our faces. (Literally and figuratively.) And it is extremely easy to think of falling as failing. But what if the two are not the same. What if falling was just another way of moving you forward? 

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There is no getting around falling. But falling is only failing when we choose to not get up. Movement toward our goals is never wasted and it is never failing. This week let’s take a few minutes and rethink failure. Because success is what we decide it is. And not reaching the exact picture isn’t failing. 

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You can fall forward. Again and again. And each time you do you will learn something new. You will grow and you will be better equipped to keep getting better. To keep getting up. Don’t give up on yourself. Keep getting up. 

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Have you taken time this spring to listen to the messages? You know the ones coming from all directions? Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal. And most of all hope. So much hope comes when we see the earth come back to life after months of cold and bare. 

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Are you ready for a subtle kind of brave? The brave that allows you to reach for hope instead of despair. Reach for the good instead of the bad. Brave is not always big and bold. Sometimes it is small and simple. Brave is believing the world can be better even if you struggle to see the evidence of that. Come let’s find some hope. 

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Sometimes in our lives, we have no control over where we are. Through no choice of our own, we are in a place where we do not want to be. Sometimes it is personal and sometimes it is global. But no matter what variety of crazy we are in the dust will always settle. 

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What do we do when that dust starts to settle? What choices do we make when it comes time to move? Do we sit scared or take steps forward? 

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This week we talk about moving forward after big events. After the crazy. And we do it through a few random examples that appear to have nothing in common. Sometimes we need a poet’s words to give us permission to move. And we need a powwow to lift our spirits so we can make personal changes and take little steps forward. 

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There is an attitude running wild in the world, that we must always be moving/pushing forward. ‘Never look back’ is shouted at us from all sides and we are constantly told to focus on what is ahead. 

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But sometimes moving forward is super hard. And no matter how we twist and turn we can’t seem to get out of the deep mud and actually move. There is something holding us back but no amount of forward focus tells us why. 

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