Celebrating Courage – and a decade of Purple Rain

I remember watching some brave people dive off Harbour Hill in the seaside town of Portstewart last summer. As they stepped up to the edge of the cliff and jumped off, I winched thinking, ‘I could never do that!’

Then a small voice in my head said, “No, Rebecca, you don’t have that kind of courage – but you did set up a business after a redundancy – and that is a type of courage too.”

I may not be a confident swimmer and I’ll never make any kind of a diver, but perhaps for the first time, I realised that going self-employed ten years ago was my ‘moment to dive’.

My ‘display of courage’ – will anyone want me to work for them, will they like my creative ideas, will they laugh at what I suggest, will they pay me? Can I get clients enough press coverage, what should I charge for my time, how long will this project take me to work on, will I do a good enough job that they will use me again?

We don’t all dive off cliffs, or set up in business, but everyone faces a time when they need to have courage. Courage that they will make it safe to shore again. Courage to step out into the unknown. Perhaps, courage to be the first to do something that hasn’t been done before, maybe even say something that hasn’t been said, but needs to be said from the heart.

So that got me thinking that we need to celebrate courage that bit more and help each other as we face the unknown. So join me over at Tales of Courage as I tell in words written and spoken, stories of courage from different people. As you take the time to listen and to read, I hope you ‘take heart’ and celebrate all that courage can achieve.

Rebecca x

Tags: courage, reflection, self-employment