The Secret To Feeling Braver In Midlife

Hi,

I'm Skylar Liberty-Rose and I'd like to talk to you about courage.

When most of us think about being brave,

We think big.

Leaving a relationship.

Quitting a job.

Selling everything and moving across the world.

And because we picture courage as something enormous,

We look at our own lives.

And decide we haven't been very brave at all.

I want to challenge that.

The bold,

Dramatic choices get all the attention.

But they're rarely where courage actually begins.

Courage is built on something smaller.

And much easier to miss.

I call these our tiny courageous moments.

The times you spoke up.

When it would have been easier to stay quiet.

The times you said no and reinforced your boundary.

The times you took a small step forward without knowing where it led.

Only knowing that staying still was no longer an option.

Those moments really feel remarkable while they're happening.

They feel like ordinary decisions.

But they have a cumulative effect.

And it's a powerful one.

Each small act of courage makes the next one more possible.

You build confidence through courage.

Not the other way around.

We tend to think we need to feel ready before we act.

When actually the action itself is what builds the readiness.

Here's why this matters.

Most of us carry a belief that we're not brave enough to change our lives.

And we hold that belief.

While completely forgetting.

The long history of courage already behind us.

We forget how much we've overcome.

We forget how far we've already come.

I'd love to invite you to create a list of your own tiny courageous moments.

Write down the obstacles you've moved through.

The challenges you face.

The moments that asked something of you.

It can be anything.

Learning to swim when water frightened you.

Setting a boundary with someone in your family.

Trying something for the first time.

When every part of you wanted to stay within your comfort zone.

No moment is too small to count.

Start with three things.

Then add another three.

And next to each one,

Write down how you felt afterwards.

Energized.

Relieve.

Proud.

If it felt frightening,

Write that too.

And then write what came out of the fear.

Where it took you.

What it made possible.

It's important to do this because we forget.

We forget our own track record.

And a forgotten track record can't bolster us.

But when you put it in front of you in your own handwriting.

Something shifts.

You stop seeing yourself as someone waiting to become brave.

And start seeing the evidence that you already are.

You don't need a dramatic turning point to change your life.

You only need to remember what you've already accomplished.

And be willing to take the next small step.