I have always been somewhat anxious and apprehensive. This wasn’t in particular situations but in numerous. For example going down steep hills, playing instruments solo in front of others, trying new things which seemed they could be dangerous. When I look back I realise that I have missed out on a lot of experiences because I was scared. Most of the time I wasn’t scared of the action itself, but I was scared of looking like a fool.

I imagine many of my friends are laughing now as I seem to make a fool of myself a lot of the time.

These blogs are a rarity for me because I just write them. Usually if I am doing public speaking, public writing, or even responding to an email I will ask someone else to check what I’ve written first. A lot of my fear comes from a lack of confidence in myself.

Again, I don’t really know where this comes from, but I know that it is there.

This evening I ended up grinning like a Cheshire Cat. The reason was because a friend encountered raged me to send an email to challenge some changes that I didn’t feel were fair. It took me a while to build up the courage, because I didn’t believe that people would listen to me, and I also didn’t think my email made sense. However, it all worked out and I had made a valid point.

I’ve said it before but people refer to me as brave because of living with my brain, but to me that’s not bravery, that’s life.

Bravery is having confidence in yourself to try new things, challenge things that need to be challenged, and share your skills and talents rather than keeping them locked up. Bravery looks different for us all, it often comes from dark places but once it’s there it flowers and affects other people.

Where do you need bravery in your life?