25 Things That Make Me Feel Brave

This is a companion list to "25 Things of Which I Am Afraid".

1. I feel brave when I put on my shoe without thoroughly shaking it out to see if there's a critter in their who will eat my toes.
2. I feel brave when I tell someone straight up that I will not be treated in a certain way.
3. I feel brave when I stand up and don't let people tell what I am or am not.
4. I feel brave when I confess to someone that I need their help.
5. I feel brave when I face the deep winter with my seasonal depression and make it through with less battle wounds than the year before.
6. I feel brave when I hold someone's hand so that we can feel the weight of their pain together.
7. I feel brave when I tell someone how much they mean to me.
8. I feel brave when I own up to doing something I'm not proud of rather than cover it up.
9. I feel brave when I use the toaster and don't have to go through my ritual of unplugging it and using plastic tongs.
10. I feel brave when I remain open to another's religious belief even though I am still dealing with the pain the religious beliefs of others created in my life as a child.
11. I feel brave when I accomplish something now that an earlier version of me never thought I could.
12. I feel brave when I think about 2007, which let the Palinode and I know that neither broken backs nor cancer, even when found together in the same marriage, cannot sink us.
13. I feel brave when I love without reserve.
14. I feel brave when I look back and realize that I haven't smoked for just over two years now.
15. I feel brave when I stand my ground about not wanting children.
16. I feel brave when I manage to pull back from the irrational fear that my cats will set out to consciously hurt me.
17. I feel brave when I go to blogging conferences, because I am naturally shy.
18. I feel brave when I stand up to say something in front of a group of people and don't whither in a dead faint.
19. I feel brave when, on a particularly difficult evening, I don't drink.
20. I feel brave when I actually enjoy hanging out with a baby, because, although I like babies, I am certainly not used to them.
21. I feel brave when I write something powerful about my personal history.
22. I feel brave when old friends find me on Facebook, and I let them in to see who I am now.
23. I feel brave when I walk to work through -40° weather.
24. I feel brave when I talk to people whom I greatly admire.
25. I feel brave when I help someone else to be brave in the face of what they fear.

Comments

[ELAINE]

you R a ninja!!!!, love your list

[Joyce ELlen Davis]

Re #9. I feel brave when I use the toaster. (I once toasted a mouse, accidentally--it was horrible for both of us, but especially so for the mouse.)

[Cheney]

Listen, you are seriously the bravest blogger I know and you inspire me to be braver.. but -40 degrees?? Woman, that's more than bravery, that's fucking heroism.

[The Blog Fodder]

I like this post. A good counter to the other. My hero (is it OK to say heroine?)

[eaglecrowowl]

I love this list. It made me want to write my own. I have been feeling much braver in the last few years and this helped me reflect on the hows and of whys of that. Your writing is so personal and yet it functions like a mirror.

I really enjoy the time I spend on your site. I've been following you on and off for years. I found you because youtube let me know you had posted a video of mine ages ago and you titled it "I Heart This Woman Every Which Way" which means I will always think you are wonderful!

[Tracy]

Wow! This list is inspiring. A lot of the entries resonate with me, but 2 and 15 resonate the most. I'm doing well on 15. I need to work on 2. Not with every relationship, but with a key few. When you don't speak up RE: 2, a relationship can become so toxic.

[V-Grrrl @ Compost Studios]

I especially like #22.

I feel brave when I think of the people who have stood by me in my darkest hours and refused to let go.

I feel brave when I give and receive what feels like unconditional love.

I feel brave when I set boundaries.

And I feel brave when I look at my failings (real and imagined) and decide I'm OK because of them and in spite of them.

[Suz]

re: Joyce Ellen Davis' reply -- i was eating when I read that. Now, I am still hungry. LOL

re: Schmutzie -- you show us the brave side of you a lot, so it's strange for us to think of you as anything but, I think!

[Issa]

I love this list even more than yesterdays. Fears are hard to discuss...talking about your own positives is even harder.

[Anissa]

It's friends like you that help me be as brave as I can.

[erin margolin]

Just reading about how brave you are? Makes me want to be more brave.

And I am shy at blogging conferences, too, but just registered for my 2nd Blissdom. And am hoping I will see/hear you there. And maybe I'll be brave enough to really say hello.

[daisybones]

This and the 'fear' piece are beautiful posts. You get my gears churning every time and I want to hug you.

[snozma]

This list is interesting because I realize that I absolutely never feel brave. Or can't recall a time I've felt brave.

I must have been brave because I do a lot of things I fear. Most of the things I've done, I've been afraid to do.

But I don't feel brave. I will have to think about why that is.

Ordinary life is quite difficult so we should all free brave some of the time.

You are very brave, m' dear. I love reading all the beautiful things you wrote framed within this context.

[alexandra]

I love what you come up with for your posts.

I just love it.

Thank you for something very special here, Schmutzie.

[Humanmama]

I heard about you on demandablueblog, and I love the list. DON'T HAVE KIDS if you don't want to. It's so MUCH and there's way too many people in this world who have them and do NOT want them. Besides, there's freaking 7 BILLION people on this earth....we could use some non-breeders :) Also, your writing is fantastic. Inspiring. Thanks.