A Matter of Perspective

You were born to be brave. Act like it. Live in this truth. If you want some of your ambitions to take a leap forward, get out of the green zone in your life and take a couple of risks. If you’ve built some pretty high walls, you don’t need to tear them all down; just build a door or two through them and get on the other side. ~Dream Big by Bob Goff

How do we “act” like we are brave?

It’s a good question and one which can be difficult to answer because the answer may be different for every person.

I have heard stories of soldiers who act extremely brave in moments of the deepest distress.

I have heard stories of parents who sacrifice themselves for their children.

We’ve all heard stories of bravery. Perhaps we have even been the brave one or the one that someone else was being brave for.

Being the brave one...

Once, I was the brave one. My granddaughter and I both fear spiders. I am pretty sure that my fear is much greater than hers!

One day she was screaming in the bathroom. I thought she was getting killed. She kept screaming, “G.G.! Help Me!!!”

I ran in there—which is an amazing feat in and of itself!

She was standing up against the wall and pointing into the shower.

There hung the biggest spider I had seen in our house. It wasn’t much bigger than an inch total including the legs, but in both of our eyes, that spider was the size of a softball! Even though it was suspended from its fine thread of silk, I saw that thing reared up and ready to attack!

It took every bit of bravery I had to grab a tissue and snatch the line the spider was hanging from.

I would like to say I took the “high road” and put the creature outside, but I actually squished it all up in the tissue! Then I threw it into the toilet and flushed it.

Now I have fears that the spider wasn’t dead and it is waiting to pounce out of the sewer line and back into my toilet while I am using it! (That’s another story, though!)

How do we live a brave life?

The example of the spider may not be a great example—unless you are as terrified of them as I am—but how does that relate to living a brave life?

I think part of living bravely is taking chances.

We are so conditioned to play it safe, but what if we started taking more chances in our lives and in our businesses? Would that make a difference?

What if we started telling our stories and shared our victories and shortcomings? Would that make a difference?

I would like to think it would make all the difference in the world!