Am I Courageous?

I did it again today, but not as severely as yesterday. I took the dogs to the groomer, came home and cleaned out the inside of my truck in preparation for my trip. I took everything out so I could clean the inside, but rather than carry the vacuum down the stairs and spent thirty minutes at that, I got my new leaf blower. Then I opened all four doors, removed the floor mats, and turned on the blower. It says on the box that it exhausts at 210 miles per hour, so that ought to do it, right? And it did! Then I cleaned the inside of all the windows, wiped down all surfaces, repacked things in the storage area, replaced the mats, then washed all the outside windows and mirrors. I didn't realize how dirty the windows were! While I was doing that, I washed the dogs little mats/beds that are kept in the car.

After I picked up the kids, I came home and decided to do some repairs to the deck and stairs. I pulled all the loose nails and replaced them with screws. A few nails I couldn't pull, so I just put a screw in beside it. The steps feel so solid now! I wanted to get as many of the squeaky, spongy-feeling boards tightened before it got cold enough that I wouldn't want to be out there. Now it should hold up till spring when I can sand the surface, replace more nails with screws and give the deck boards a good treatment.

Then I got lazy. I called Gail who was in town and suggested that she bring home a pizza for dinner! Pizza and beer for dinner! Hurray!!

And today I was honored with another award. Thank you, Sherry.


I'm not sure how she defined courage, but I have my own thoughts about it. I think we are all courageous, at least sometimes in our lives. Do we realize it? I don't know. I think I recognize it after the fact sometimes, other times, perhaps not at all. Reflecting back over my life I see times when I had courage to be different, to make changes in my life or help others change theirs, to stand up for something in which I saw merit. Occasionally I had the courage to speak out for myself or others. Sometimes I had the courage to try something new, to strike a path over unexplored territory. So I guess I have had courage ... or would you say that I might have been foolish on those occasions?

I could have been hurt at times. I can remember a few times when I placed myself between two people squared off and potentially could have been injured. Luckily I wasn't. That probably wasn't too smart, but as I said, at the time we don't think about some things, we just do.

I must have had courage over the recent years as my life has taken drastic twists and turns, and I've pushed ahead into new experiences. It wasn't without trepidation. I was often scared. Can one be scared and courageous at the same time? I think so. Sometimes the momentum of running scared carries us right into the thick of things and we just act on instinct. That's what I've done. I'm not afraid to share my journey on my blog. I don't know if I'm courageous to do this, but it seems to be a good thing for me. Writing about it makes me realize what I've done, where I've been, and that at least most of the time, how well I've managed through the challenges I've faced.

Sherry, who sent this my way, and Jen, who honored her, certainly are courageous. They've both waged the battle with cancer. They both live life large. That's courageous.

Caroline has survived a terrible religious indoctrination, an ill-fated marriage, and the challenges of coming out and a family that deserted her when she needed them most. She chose to refuse to allow all that negativity get her down. She fought ... and is fighting ... back. That's courageous.

Traci also had a very rough childhood and an early adulthood that was just as damaging, and she works daily to put it all behind her. When it comes at her again she rears up and stomps it down. That's courage.

Jenn is raising her little girl with stumbling blocks thrown at her by a really lousy ex. She stands strong against his interference, keeping her child in her focus at all times. That's courage.

Feel free to take this and run with it. What does "Courageous" mean to you? Are you courageous? Who do you know who is a Courageous Blogger?

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PS - See the post below for quotes about courage. I added it this morning as an after thought.