Insight

For years I believed courage was something I needed to dig for. The deeper I went, the more I’d find. So, when change arrived and shook something loose inside me, I kept digging, head down, inward, searching. I didn’t realise that all that digging was actually my most convincing excuse to stay still.

I was in the uncertainty gap. No longer who I was, not yet who I am becoming, and in that in between space, I couldn’t articulate much. The words sat at the tip of my tongue and wouldn’t come. My presence got smaller. I stayed quiet in rooms where I used to speak up, not because I have nothing to say, but because I wasn’t sure yet who was saying it. What changed things wasn’t going deeper. It was opening up.

Courage isn’t buried. It blossoms. Just like a fruit tree in spring, it doesn’t force itself open. It becomes open. To new information. New people. New experiences it couldn’t have accessed from inside a closed bud. The moment I stopped digging and started observing what change was actually presenting to me, things shifted. Not dramatically, but quietly. Like the first sign of a blossom you almost miss if you are not paying attention.

So what?

If you’ve been searching inside yourself for the courage to speak up or show up through a change you’re navigating, and coming up empty, you’re not lacking courage. You may not be opening up to it. You open up to it through trust in what you already carry, and by being open to what the change is bringing toward you.

Next steps.

Think of one change you are currently navigating. Instead of asking, “do I have the courage for this?”, ask, “what is this change asking me to become open to?”

There is no need to act on what you discovered straight away. I encourage you to sit with it for a little while which gives it space to open up more.

If this is sitting with you, the Blossoming Speaker Podcast just launched, and the first episode goes deeper into exactly this. It’s called, Courage, where are you? And it is a good place to start. You can also find it on your preferred podcast app.

All the best, Susan.