Dear Brave Soul,
You are courageous. Yes, you are. You have done things you never did before. You have done things you never thought you could do. Scary, life threatening things. Riding a bicycle, driving a car, standing up to bullies, maybe standing up to a parent or a teacher, or a boss. Standing up for yourself.
You have faced the unknown morning after morning, day after day, month after month, year after year. You don’t have control over your life and yet you make decisions and take charge. You take care of yourself. You take action. You don’t have all the answers – all the “right” answers – but you try. You think. You learn. You ask. You try things. You try again.
You learn from what you’ve done, mistakes and all. You talk to people. You do some research. You feel your heart. You remember your humanity and vulnerability. You breathe. Maybe you dance or sing or draw or write or scream or cry. You take stock of what matters to you. You remember your values and your moral compass. You ask yourself if you are really being honest, and caring, and kind, and focused. You think again. You take several long slow deep breaths. You say yes to yourself, yes to life, yes to courage. Courage and conscious and action.
I’ve spent the last fifteen years supporting people with their job searches. A job search takes courage. It takes digging deep in yourself to find the stamina and the motivation and the clarity to stay the course. To keep reaching out and applying. To keep saying yes to what matters to you. To what you want and need to be successful (and not get fired cause you made a desperate, ill-fitting choice). To trust yourself, the research you’ve done, what you know about a company and its culture, what you know in yourself that you’re capable of. To know that when you say yes, you are being brave and true to yourself, too.
There are times when we are called to a brave space. For some of us, it is a job search. For others, it is speaking out or standing up, choosing consciously what you are yes to and what is a no for you.
Take the invitation to brave space with your heart, your mind and your spirit. Find your footing one step at a time. Find a hand to hold and a community to walk with you. Remember that you have been braver than you ever imagined. You have stepped into the unknown since the moment you were born.
Do what is important to you. Be brave and bold.
With love, Laura