I Am Brave

I love my one-year-old’s power walk. She cruises through the house, fearless, unstoppable. Because she knows nothing about what could possibly happen. She has no anticipatory anxiety. She simply enjoys discovering the parts of life she now has access to.

What if we were like this?

A little healthy fear to keep us safe is one thing, but crippling anxiety is a different beast. What if we were more excited to discover our lives, instead of worried about potential pitfalls?

I think the longest relationship of my life has been with anxiety. Many of my decisions have been made from a place of fear, and I don’t think this is where we do our best work. But for many of us, fear is not a choice, it is a reaction rooted in trauma.

Even with consistent therapy, it lingers, burrowing deep inside my body, my mind, my spirit. To combat this, I’ve created a mantra when I am paralyzed or panicked: I am brave. I don’t focus on being perfect or right. I focus on being powerful. I focus on believing that I have value, just as I am. I have everything I need right now to be successful. I just need to try.

This mantra gets that sick feeling out of my gut when I believe that all is lost. It pulls me out of hopelessness and propels me forward into my future. Turning a terrifying problem into a beautiful path of possibility.