The Definition of Brave

brave/brāv/

Adjective:

Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage. From Dictionary.com

You might not guess this from meeting me, but it's true. People terrify me. Attribute it to years of being bullied, or whatever. But to this day, my teeth still chatter when I have to meet new people. And if the topic of conversation is me? Well, let's just say there had better be a bathroom nearby.

Today, my publisher called to say that a reporter wanted to do an interview with me about Finishing. I smiled (not that they could tell on the phone) and said I'd be happy to. Then I hung up and wanted to toss my cookies.

What if froze or sounded stupid? What if I ruined any possible chance for the book's success before it was even out?!

A mini freak out later, I called a very delightful reporter, by the name of Cody Clark from the Daily Herald. He asked some great questions about how to finish and reach your goals. Within minutes, my stomach unclenched and I was at ease talking about my passion -- finishing. The interview was actually fun, not really scary at all.

The point of this story is to talk about being brave. I'm going to disagree with dictionary.com. For me, being brave is when there's something I don't want to do, or that scares the jellybeans out of me -- and I do it anyway. 

There's a lot of those moments on the way to reaching our goals. You can either turn tail and run for the safety under the bed, or close your eyes and step forward anyway. And when it's over, you might wonder what the big deal was in the first place -- like me with the interview. Or you still might be terrified. In the case of the latter, you get extra bonus stars and finishing it should be that much sweeter. 

Fighting lions and tigers sometimes isn't nearly as tough as fighting the demons that tell us that we can't. And to those of you that do battle with those negative voices everyday, you have my admiration and utmost respect. You are brave, and you totally rock.