Can You Find Your Bravery Within?
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Black and white image of Gretchen Leary doing a yoga pose and being brave within

Black and white image of Gretchen Leary doing a yoga pose and being brave within

By Gretchen Leary

We often think of bravery and greatness as almost the same. But what if we considered the idea that sometimes bravery can also mean the ability to be humble without shame? We often think of bravery as an action that we do with our body but we don’t always associate it with what we do with our mind.

I have some great plans for this year to share with each of you. I have some places I want to visit and activities to defy my fears.

But January was all about going within to be brave.

It felt truly brave to embrace the power of humility this month and separating shame from humility. Practicing humility helps us root ourselves in gratitude instead of insecurity. I’ve spent the majority of my life living on reassurance from others instead of finding it within.

I have consistently been doing a thirty-day yoga challenge and a special personal development course this month. Each have helped me see the power in accountability for my own actions which means loving my victories and also owning my mistakes in a new way. I didn’t see the power in this until I had to use the tools I had learned.

Owning my own time and accepting responsibility for my own actions allowed me to be brave every time I stepped onto my yoga mat, to feel accomplished when I hit 40,000 words in my word count of a manuscript I began this month that I had been promising myself I would write for years, and also apologizing for an argument with a family member when I realized I had made a mistake without tormenting myself afterwards. 

There is beauty in vulnerability and bravery in being raw.

Not just in our actions but in our thoughts as well. I’m realizing that I can make a bucket list of brave things to do, and I will, but the bravest thing I can do is be the very best version of myself. The very best version of myself will be human just like anyone else, have cellulite just like everyone else and make mistakes just like anyone else, but she’ll own those things and love herself anyways. 

Can you challenge yourself to be brave with me?

Each time we make a mistake these days, let’s:

  1. Challenge ourselves to make some room to try again
  2. Remember that we would never learn if we don’t make mistakes, and
  3. Try to challenge our brains to be curious about how to grow when we realize we’re wrong instead of shaming ourselves for it.

We’ve got this!

Read about Gretchen

Read more on “Being Brave” by Gretchen Leary


Our website at Geek Club Books is a platform for autistic voices, positive autism advocacy and education, and sharing autism resources we think you’ll want to know about. Here are additional categories we cover and questions we explore:

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