Bravery means running to fear, not from it.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, 

but the triumph over it.” 

~Nelson Mandela

Sometimes, I am scared, and it feels liberating to admit it with brio.

It’s not about the things I need anyone to fix or take away. It’s not the result of ignorance, soon to be soothed by statistics and additional information. It’s not something I need to run from, hide, or transform into something more positive. It just is. I just get randomly scared.

Some would call it anxiety, but I think that term has become a surrogate
for just plain scared. And much like the best treatment for that ball of the scared inside of you at times, running to face it does feel freeing, doesn't it? It's the first step in getting rid of it.

But the thing you are scared about isn't always within arms reach.

Author Susan Jeffers wrote, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” But sometimes there’s nothing we can do but wait.

Whether you’re six weeks away from surgery, or six months away from losing your home, or six years away from your children leaving your house, the future contains limitless possibilities for challenges - some we can anticipate and others we don’t yet know to predict. In these moments of being scared about the unknown, it often serves us best to transform that energy into something productive, like physical movement or activity. 

But sometimes the most useful thing we can do is sit with our scared feeling - to acknowledge it, humble ourselves before it.

Accept its challenge to be brave in each moment, as it comes.

Breathe in the scared, then breathe out with fierce bravery.

Run to it.

Cheers.