There was a time when I believed bravery belonged to other people. People who hiked mountains or ran marathons. People who jumped out of planes or into political office. But somewhere between my second attempt at college and standing on a stage in Boise, I learned a different definition of bravery.

It looked like registering for classes I was certain I would fail. It looked like sitting in the front row when I wanted to blend in. Like raising my hand. Like leading a Teach Club and inviting others to gather and dream about the future of classrooms we had not yet stepped into.

Bravery looked like saying yes when they asked me to be a delegate for the Idaho Education Association (IEA). Then again when I was asked to run for Student President of the IEA. It looked like learning Robert’s Rules of Order and stepping into rooms where I was the only college student. It looked like asking questions, even when my voice shook.

And it looked like boarding planes to Boston, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis with a carry-on bag and a name tag, hoping no one would notice how nervous I was. I did not feel like a leader. I felt like a girl from a small Idaho town trying to figure it all out.

But then I stood on that stage—nominated and chosen as the Student Teacher of the Year by the IEA—and I realized something. All of that saying yes, all of that shaky-voiced stepping forward, had shaped me. Not into someone new, but into someone more deeply herself.

Shauna Niequist prays, “Help us to be brave with one another, for these are the days” (Niequist, 2024, p. 34). These are the days, indeed. The days when showing up for one another and ourselves, even in small ways, changes us.

So today I am sitting with this question:
When have I been brave with someone?

And I am asking you to sit with it too. Because maybe your most courageous moments were not the loudest or the most obvious. Maybe they were the quiet ones; showing up, speaking up, staying in the room. And maybe that is what courage really is.

Gracefully yours,

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Reference
Niequist, S. (2024). Celebrate Every Day. Zondervan.