This post is inspired by a coffee mug.
Well, other things, too, but really … a coffee mug.
It’s not even mine, but belongs a very dear and gracious friend (#mel) who doesn’t mind me using it these days because it’s speaking so loudly to me.
When I need it the most. In the mornings. 😆
Yup. for some reason, like a jolt of caffeine every a.m., I desperately need a fresh jolt of courage. I awaken most mornings, fresh out. Leaving me wondering, ‘Crap, where in the heck did it go? It was just here yesterday.’ Makes me want to look under my pillow, forage under my bed, search the bottom of the covers like so many pairs of socks that get kicked off in the night.
And then unbidden, the questions come flooding in, and the doubts, and the nasty little reminders of failures past … bleh. The unwanted anxieties bubble up, like black, inky hatch-marks trying to overcome yesterday’s beautiful colours in my mind’s eye. Bleh again.
So what’s a girl to do?
Well, I don’t know about any other girl, but I used to have all kinds of unhealthy responses to those little imaginary gremlins in my head who were attempting to steal my strength and joy. Like resigning myself to them (as if they were truth). Like shopping to ‘treat myself’ (when it was really about numbing the overwhelming sense of unworthiness). Like eating dumb – translation: sugary – foods, as if that would make them disappear. Lies! Lies! They appeared alright, right on my hips). Like retreating into Netflix (or) Hulu bingeing, or coping through busyness … uh, well, you may recognize some of these numbing things. You might even know them intimately. Umh, yeah, sisters and brothers. Exactly what i’m talking about.
Thankfully, I do less and less of those things. So, how in the world does a girl do that?
A number of ways, actually, but that’s a blog post for another day (and i will write it, because it’s powerful). Let’s just say it has a lot to do with intentionality, and for purposes of today’s post, WORDS.
Yup - words. Good ol’ fashioned, lil’ simple words.
Like images, I’ve learned firsthand, really firsthand, how words carry power. They carry power to enlighten, to build up or tear down, to paint pictures good or bad, to bring lightness or heaviness.
Interestingly, I’ve also learned that words actually fight. Good words fight for me to overcome the nasties in my head. so I take time every day to fill my brain with good words, first thing, hot and fresh just like that mug of coffee. I journal them some days, I read them some days, I paint them some days, I YouTube them some days. I even speak them aloud. And I’ve learned to pay attention to the words I let in and surround myself with. Like great people in my life, if I let the good words in, they fight for me in good ways.
So, back to the coffee mug … and to courage.
Wandering into the early morning kitchen these days, this coffee mug reminds me of what I want, who I want to be … and am gradually becoming. I am courageous. fearless. fierce. brave.
It’s not a ‘can-do’ thing, at least for me. It’s a lean-in thing, a believing thing, a faith thing, a promise thing. It’s a resting thing as I move into ALL i’m stepping into in this season, because I’m doing very new and scary things.
And that, my friend - that’s a courage thing!
So....what does courage mean to you? I’d love to hear from you, comment below ♡