The bravery to be myself

Chapter 234

It is something most of us are striving toward, the bravery to be real, to be ourselves. The process and the action is far more difficult than it should be. Bravery isn’t generally difficult to find, but bravery at this level can be. This is rejection-level bravery. When was the last time you allowed someone to see the unvarnished you, and you received an unvarnished positive response? Exactly. This is why people as much as possible congregate toward people who are most like them. It lowers the friction to manageable levels and doesn’t require very much bravery.

But we don’t have the luxury of hanging out with our peeps 24/7 and at some point we have to be with people who aren’t likely to be super-accepting of us. Their tolerance for our appearance, or politics or attire or views or beliefs or age is low. And they will not permit you to be real and unvarnished without comment. And how much power (or not) those comments have over you, is the amount of bravery you will need in your emotional and psychological tank to face the comments without injury or scarring.

One of the pieces that fill my bravery tank in these situations, is the understanding that I have come to late in life, that the person making the comments, is generally making the comment because they themselves are terrified to be themselves, and that is why they can’t admire you for doing so. 

That understanding fuels my bravery. 

May it do the same for you also.

Be yourself, but don’t stop growing.