the bravery files

Fiona Lynne - The Bravery Files

At the beginning of 2012 I decided that instead of listing a long string of things I wanted to do or improve on during the year, I would simply pick one word. One word that would, hopefully, define the way I lived, the way I did business, pursued relationships, the way I walked in my faith. (You can read more about the One Word idea here)

My one word for the year was BRAVE.

Here is where you can find all my ponderings and experiences of trying to live an intentionally brave life… I hope it may encourage and inspire you to more bravery too, that you might find a new freedom by living with courage instead of fear.

My Posts on Bravery:

On a whole year of being brave
I lay courage over my life like a prophecy and claimed it for my own, full of nerves but so sure that without it, I would waste this year…

Stay
This word of yours has surprised you, hasn’t it. You didn’t expect to discover that fear is underpinning so very many of your actions, your decisions, your thoughts…

Brave is a 36km bike ride
And yet as they passed me and disappeared up the hill – while I plodded on with my bike by my side and a face like a tomato – this thought came to me: I may not know much about cycling, but I know a thing or two about courage…

Brave: A new name
The desire to hide hits me strong some days.
I want to pack up the few important things we own, pack it all up in to a few suitcases. Close the front door behind us and throw the suitcases in the boot of the car. Reverse out the garage and drive down the street, out the city, into the countryside, driving a little too fast. Just get lost somewhere, maybe for a while, maybe for ever…

Brave is Daring to Speak
Life is wonderfully formed so that we are always learning, always beginning again, always discovering. But there’s a sense in which we sometimes feel we have to hide the fact that we’re all learners. We work hard to appear proficient, we fake it till we make it…

When Vulnerability looks like courage
Because it’s the rare moment when you actually feel brave in the moments when you need to be brave. Very occasionally I find myself stepping into a challenging situation and I am able to say “Yes, I can do this.” But mostly I am stepping forward thinking, “I can’t do this. But I’m doing it anyway”…

When being brave is scary
Last night, Rasmus looked at me as I was telling the story of my day, with my head leant against the too-low extractor fan and my eyes screwed shut for a moment in an effort to get over just how big everything feels right now, and said,
“You’re wishing right now that you’d chosen home as your one word this year.” He grinned…

Why I can be Brave
It was easier for me to be brave when I had a good job, many local friends, a recognised role at church, a community to be part of. It is harder to be brave when all that seems uncertain…

Brave is Trying Again
And that side sort of took over and my hands were welded to the rope, I started sweating and shaking all over, and I had to work hard to control my breathing and I was so close to tears. “Oh God, please don’t let me cry in front of all these CEOs.” And I just couldn’t do it…

Brave is a Red Dress
Because you should know about me that I am not normally the kind of woman who buys a red dress. The clothes in my wardrobe are various shades of grey, navy, dark green, the odd splash of blue thrown in. A yellow cardigan is about as daring as I get in colour. When I go to a party the goal is blending in rather than standing out…

Being open, stepping forward
I have a little figurine that my mum gave me a few years ago, one of the willow tree ones that are so popular now. She’s one of their angel series, and her name is courage. Her arms are open wide wide wide and her head is thrown back, face turned upward…

One Word: Brave
Ready but a little overwhelmed. There’s so much I want to do, to be, to achieve this year. Good goals and mostly achievable, but it’s going to take effort and perseverance and discipline to reach where I want to be by new years eve next year. And courage, a lot of courage…


 

Guest Posts on Bravery:

On being brave for her – by Jenna
I could not sleep. I hadn’t realized how attuned I was to the sound of her breathing and the little noises she made at night. I stayed up counting all the fire hazards and possible death traps in the room…

Brave is starting again – by Claire
I know what it is to start again. To pack up all my belongings, say goodbye to people I love, and then travel hundreds of miles to a different city or, sometimes, a different country…

Recklessly continuing to hope – by Amanda
I try to not think about all of this. I keep believing that if we just hope and pray for a bit longer, it will be just a matter of waiting. It gets harder when I see pregnant girls all over the place, from the office, to our neighbors, to friends and family close and far…. It all seems so easy on everyone else…

Being brave, choosing joy – by Ellie Cook
I think, on reflection, one of the most obvious ‘brave’ things that I’ve done in my life was moving to South Africa. I think the thing that marked it out as requiring bravery was the fact that although I wanted to go, I also really didn’t want to go, because it was scary, and would be hard. I was terrified, and when my visa arrived in the post (the last official requirement being satisfied) I cried…

Flying Lessons – by Helen Dineen
Aside from a draft or two seen by my children, husband and sister, I have not been brave enough to share them with anyone else. Or, in fact, to develop any story to the point where I feel I can share it. I resist doing the last 10% just so I can say no, not yet, it’s not ready…

Brave is loving myself first – by Joanne
I have pushed myself all my life and been afraid the entire time. It is only recently that I have begun to really look inward at myself, to face my fears and realize most of them are not really grounded in reality. This has been a huge wake up call…

What is brave? by Marissa
brave is leaving. packing your life into a car and driving 2,000 miles to a foreign land named wisconsin…

Brave is a pretty nailpolish by Jody

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