how to be a brave person

The other day, I was having a serious day of self-doubt. I was stuck in my head, feeling like I wasn’t connecting with people, wasn’t actually doing anything I loved, that the sidenotes I was following weren’t panning out, and generally feeling overwhelmed about everything. I imagine it was partly due to being tired, partly due to caffeine, and partly due to just having a bad day.

Regardless, at one point I remembered this quote, “There is no love, only acts of love.” Love, of course, is a whole different topic, but the point still applies. The quote reminded me that there is no such thing as a brave person, only brave acts. It’s hard to push through failure by putting yourself in a position for more failure, but that reminder gave me the motivation to get out my head and try to fight through.

I figured the best way to get out of your head is just to take action, so I went to a yoga class at the gym. I’ve always been intrigued with the idea of yoga, especially for its intersection between physical exercise, mental well-being, and spiritual growth, but I always felt like it didn’t really fit my schedule, wasn’t the right time, or whatever. I ended up really enjoying the class and having a conversation with the instructor about how yoga starts by opening up your hips and legs, but it leads to an opening of your mind and soul. Cheesy new age spiritualism? Maybe, but I left slightly more convinced that this was a sidenote that I wanted to pursue further.

It’s hard to build up the courage to push through loads of self-doubt, it’s much easier for me to just give myself a break, go home, do nothing, and feel sorry for myself. It’s easy for me to make excuses like, maybe I’m not cut out for an uncomfortable life of change, I should leave that to the bold people. The bottom line is, though, there is no such thing as a bold person, some people just keep moving through the fear and do cool things.

from ken

Are you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com