I was really nervous to post my blog on bravery the other day. If I can be honest about my little blog audience, I feel like I have three sections of readers. There’s the section of you that I know about, who like and comment and make contact once in a while, and who appear to be rooting for our family around every corner. I appreciate you SO much, even if we haven’t been close friends in person. Chunk number two is silent followers, who I also really appreciate! I’m not afraid of you quiet ones 😉 I choose to believe you follow along because you care. And chunk number three is the small handful of you that I know are not rooting for us, and actually dislike us. Don’t worry chunk one and two, chunk three is small. While chunk number three doesn’t affect me very much, and I don’t need everyone’s approval, I think we can all agree that its hard to share vulnerable things with people you know aren’t on your side or who you don’t feel close to. I’m usually up for sharing almost everything on this blog, but sometimes chunk number three has me hesitating. And it did on “bravery” day.
But I’m SO glad I shared it!! I received a handful of encouraging comments, as well as some messages and texts. Turns out, I am not the only one who feels the need to be braver these days, and who is feeling that itch for change and self improvement. Its not just me who is in a weird time of figuring.
One friend, Carrie J, wrote me a text and told me how she was feeling the same strong feelings as me. She’s a good friend of mine. We don’t get together very often, because #momlife, but every time we do, we really enjoy each other’s company. So we decided to make the effort to go for a walk in the near future and actually discuss our goals and new things we needed to be brave about. I haven’t ever gotten together with someone for that specific purpose. Like, a life rap session. But we were both excited about it, and made it happen yesterday evening.
Once we both had our kids down for bed, we started walking each other’s way. We live about a block-ish apart, so we met within a couple of minutes, and took to doing laps around the pond. The first thing we talked about was Jamin’s day. Carrie suffered the devastating loss of a child years back, and while our losses were very different, we relate quite closely on a lot of things surrounding grief. So she was sensitive enough to ask and understand the mix of emotions swirling around in my heart. I really appreciated that. (And I appreciated all the love and understanding I received on that post. Thank you, friends.)
I won’t discuss what Carrie is working to be braver about, but I can say we had a really awesome, honest, judgement free conversation. She’s a considerably more graceful person than I am, and spoke so calmly and thoughtfully, where as I feel like I was yelling as I got more excited about our conversation! Hahaha! Such a dork, Hailey! As silly as I felt about most of what I was saying, it was really liberating giving some of my thoughts a voice, and hearing them out loud! I’ve written and researched and talked cryptically about them to an extent, but getting together with a trusted friend specifically to talk about new things and goals and vulnerability and life changes made it feel safer. And I was safe. There was no judgement! We laughed at ourselves from time to time, but in a really honest way. A way that I LOVED.
So here’s the thing. I KNOW that not everyone has someone. But there is something SO freeing and exciting about actually sharing some of these things with someone. Saying them OUT LOUD. It makes plans feel more real. Doable. Reachable. So I challenge you to tell someone! And make it intentional. Making that plan with Carrie a few days in advance prepared both of us for what was to come, and we could get our thoughts in order. We knew we were getting together to talk about what we needed to be brave and vulnerable about. It was really worth it. So I say again, tell somebody. It might make it easier to actually go forward with the changes you have in your heart! Whether you tell a spouse, parent, friend, or family member, tell someone! Give someone the opportunity to encourage you in your quest for change! You can even tell me ❤️ I’m not out here, gunning after all your personal information, but I’m something of a vault, and you can share with me anytime 🙂
Friends, what do you have to be brave about? And who are you going to talk to about it?