The Courage to Be Yourself

It’s ironic that a pioneering feminist like Florence Nightingale critized women who tried to ‘be like men.’ Just be yourself, she was saying—we don’t need anyone apishly imitating anyone else or instinctually rejecting anyone either. We all face other people’s expectations and stereotypes. We resist this, and at the same time, we can remember Seneca’s advice: ‘We don’t need to be different for the sake of being different—petulant rebellion can be its own kind of defense mechanism. But if we do, on the outside, look the same as everyone else, we better make damn sure that on the inside everything is different. That we are truly who we want to be, how we know deep down it feels right to be.’”¹

Courage is Calling

Sometimes, a book cover can be a foreshadowing of what is coming.

When I saw Ryan Holiday’s “Courage is Calling” in my favorite little Indie book store, Buxton Books, in Hatteras, NC, I knew I needed it.

I’ve felt God inviting me to be more courageous for some time now.

The invitation started during the COVID lockdown and repeatedly appeared in a million ways.

It won’t relent.

I have suspicions and inclinations about why, but I will keep them close until I pray them through.

Gaining Courage in the Garden

"Out of fear, we conform. Out of fear, we don’t do what is right. We mute ourselves. We don’t even want other people to be themselves, because it makes us uncomfortable.”²

My local botanical garden is my hiding place.

I put my phone on airplane mode and permit myself to be.

It gives me a safe and lovely place to think.

To reconcile with some deep questions and, primarily, to gather courage.

Sometimes, I hide under a sprawling elm by the canal and watch the Canadian Geese swim by.

Sometimes, I meander through the wildflower meadow and go to the Butterfly House.

Sometimes, like today, I find my “sit spot” inside the Rose Auditorium, where I take my movement class.

I gather the courage to become the woman God is inviting me to be.

Courage for What Is to Come

“It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.”

-J. R. R. Tolkien

The news is frightening.

The political environment is confusing and harsh.

The moral compass seems off-kilter.

So, I hear courage calling me to strengthen my spirit, mind, and body.

That takes ardent discipline to set aside time for listening and learning—from God and others.

So, I am.

I don’t know what is coming, but I know the One who holds what is coming in His hands.

Question?

Is there a book, practice, or inner guide helping you develop courage right now?

I’d love to know.

1. Holiday, R. (2022). Courage is calling: Fortune favors the brave. Portfolio/Penguin.

2. Holiday, R. (2022). Courage is calling: Fortune favors the brave. Portfolio/Penguin.