Be Brave Project: Do one brave thing a day

Every ounce of my soul has screamed “No! I will never betray him!” And myself is screaming “Be brave” “Be fearless”.

I don’t consciously do it. I don’t plan a brave thing or even make choices with this project in mind…

BUT

The choices that I make on a daily basis are influenced with the consciousness of this goal. And as a result, my world has widened, my art is out there, I have a growing following on my blog, I have sold my artwork for the first time to people who weren’t related to me and in fact have never met me, I have chosen to move out to California, I have taken opportunities that I would otherwise have hidden from.

If I am aware that I am avoiding something because I am afraid, I take steps to confront that thing. It’s kinda cool.

And, coincidentally, or perhaps not, the woman who started this project has actually become a blog friend of mine. We “get” each other. It’s funny.

And when I first stumbled across her project, I didn’t think that I was important enough to be a part of her circle. Hm. I now have my own internet circle. And I AM a part of her circle.

And there’s more coming.

Page 39:

Reflect

Think about those experiences in your own life when you felt totally unprepared for what was before you.

Ask

• How did you overcome or live through those moments?

• What sources of internal strength did you discover?

• Did you focus on any dreams, knowing that there was something bigger in life yet to do?

• What courage did you find because you were unprepared – because you just had to?

Act

• Remind yourself of the strength in your life… of the things you have accomplished when you had to.

• Define your dreams… and acknowledge them as real and worthy of your courage and strength.

• Do one small thing you are not ready to do… recapture the power of amateur status.

I have done many brave things, sometimes with this goal in mind, but I am not keeping track and sometimes not even paying attention. But this might have been the goal/challenge that changed my attitude about my life and the direction it was heading.

is often just about stepping outside of my comfort zone.

If I don’t want to face 43things because I don’t want to work on being productive or focus on being happy or be reminded of all the things I want get done, then it is brave to come back and start posting on 43things again.

Now I know it’s not REALLY brave, it’s not like bungeejumping or selling my art to a boutique on the beach… neither of which I have done, by the way, but it is one step on getting back.

Being brave is also confronting someone who has hurt you, or calling someplace you think will give you disappointing news, or asking for help when you hate asking, or telling someone something is not okay when it is, in fact, not okay. These are all things I have done in the past couple of weeks.

Brave also: committing to potty training even though little boys say things like, “no pee pee, no pee pee, potty bad guy. Bad mama. Bad mama.” :) Gotta do it anyway, even though it’s hard.

I would like to be a little more conscious about this goal. It is about making bravery a part of every day life, not just being some tough guy who barrels through everything pretending not to be afraid.

I was totally chicken shit to make a comment on someone’s blog, someone I kind of look up to. It wasn’t just making a comment, it was then linking to something I posted that was dealing with her exact issue.

Sure, she asked the question, she brought up the issue, but I couldn’t help thinking that they would think I was pushy and spammy and trying to insert my blog into her far more popular one.

Cool kids at the lunch table—again. WTF?

So I grit my teeth and then linked to TWO of my posts, two separate posts. I don’t know what will come of it. I don’t know if she will read my post. She has responded to me before, so she might. I don’t know if other’s will read my post and get something. Maybe.

Was there more that I did that was brave? Maybe. I don’t remember. Did I link once more to one of my posts? Am I a marketing dervish?
I have noticed that you get more visitors when you leave a direct link.

A little bravery.

The other day, I took a leap and joined the Be Brave Project. I took up the challenge to do one brave thing a day. That’s it, just one little brave thing.

I posted this on my blog, and that’s where I put the banner, but my blog isn’t always the place for me to discuss how I finally opened up a bank account down here… it just doesn’t fit with what my blog is about. But 43T is the perfect place for me to discuss my brave thing for the day, or decide if it really is brave.

Like for instance, today. Today, I have decided that my brave thing was to make a list of 100 Things to Do to Live a Creative Life and then post it to my blog. Was it really brave? I don’t know. It’s something that I do, it’s a natural act for me, to think about creativity and to share what I know. But even now, I feel the need to defend my audacity at making some sort of definitive list of how to live life creatively. I don’t need to talk about how I have made art for 30 years or written for 25 or run workshops for 18 or got a degree in teaching and how people learn 10 years ago and have been working on my creativity curriculum for the last 7 years with my friends. See, look at that, even now I am still defending my right to say what I said, despite the fact that I know anyone who is on this journey has a right to say what it means to live a creative life and how they achieve it.

This is a good place for me to work through what it means to be brave and to hold myself to my commitment to doing one brave thing a day.

One of the things I like about this project is that it is up to me to decide what is brave, how long I am committed for, what it all means… which is as it should be, because it’s my life. But that means I need a place to address these intricacies.

I get the feeling that this could be a really important, life changing challenge. Any time you face your fears, the world trembles. Or maybe it’s just YOUR world that trembles. What would happen to my life if my fears did not stop me? There would not be boundaries.

It’s a scary thought. What about you? Are you ready to face your fears head on? Are you willing to Be Brave?

Wanna Be Brave with me?