As a kid if you asked me what bravery was I would picture a strong, dashing young prince yielding a sword, fighting dragons with the most gorgeous hair. He was too cocky and sure of himself to feel afraid. But as I’ve grown, my life experiences has expanded beyond the cartoons to realize what I thought I knew about bravery was all wrong. I mean how it is brave to do something that doesn’t scare you? If fighting dragons isn’t scaring, how is it different than say jumping on a trampoline (unless you’ve had three kids, which then thats a different kind of fear, am I right mommas?)?

There has to be fear to have bravery. But fear without action is just fear. Bravery is about being afraid but taking action anyways. We all get afraid, it’s part of the human experience. You don’t get to choose if you are afraid. But you can choose if you want to be brave.

Right now think of one thing you want to do for your business but don’t because you are too afraid? Is it raising your prices to a profitable level? Is it picking up the phone to call a potential client? Is it going to a networking group because you feel socially awkward? I’ve been there, I know that feeling. I can feel it in my gut, my heart beat picks up as my hands start to shake. What happens when I let fear win? Every time I think about what scares me, the emotions come back. Every day. Over and over. And the little voice in my head reminds me that I’m weak.

But what happens when I get that feeling and take action. What happens when I let myself be brave. Yes, I still feel it in my gut, heart and hands. But then when it’s done, my body starts to relax a little. Slowly it’s replaced with that feeling of pride. The feeling of learning I am capable of more than I thought I was. Even when I fail, because I do fail. Even in failure, there is pride. But sometimes I don’t fail. Sometimes amazing things happen. In fact by taking risk, doing things scared, I have opened up my world more than I ever imagined.

So what’s something that scares you that you can do this month, this week or what about right now?