It Takes Courage to Share my Day of Courage
#DayOfCourage
On August 28th I participated in the 1st ever Day of Courage where participants from all around the world did something courageous, anything that took them out of their comfort zone or away from their norm, we faced a fear and then are sharing it with the world!
I thought for a long time on what would I do? In July I did go white water rafting which ended up being courageous for me because at the last moment everything inside me said not to go…I had a great time and loved every minute of it! Some people were going sky diving, jumping off cliffs, going to visit places that had been traumatizing for them….I struggled finding something and eventually I decided to ask for help!
Now, to those of you who know me quite well probably know that this was a challenge , but I did it! I posted in a couple of groups what I needed for my business and got some answers which were fantastic! I opened the door up for myself to ask again when I need help!
Well…this is all nice and dandy, but what I hadn’t shared is the Day of Courage internal challenge I had given to myself! On the 29th I woke up and thought “It’s not very courageous of you Wendy if you don’t actually share what you are trying to do.” So here it is!
My real #DayofCourage act is to not criticize my husband! What?!?!?! Yep, I made the choice to stop criticizing my husband for the choices he makes or the things he does and accept him for being himself!
Now…I will preface this by saying #1 I absolutely have the most supportive and loving husband around, he is amazing and I love him dearly. We’ve been blessed with 16 years of marriage and an amazing family! There are times when I really find myself thinking or saying under my breath “that was a silly thing to do” or “why did he do it that way” or “geez, could you just do it this way and make it easier?” And occasionally there would be things that would come out of my mouth 😊 that thinking back now honestly, weren’t helping any situation, I was talking before thinking.
So, how’d I do for 1 day…I think I did pretty well for the 1st day! I’ll be honest it was challenging, the little voice occasionally wanted to come up! But here’s the thing, I’m not stopping at August 28th…I’m challenging myself to do it for a week, and then it will be another week, and another week…until ultimately, the judgement that I hear inside my head and occasionally say will be gone! That’s my goal anyway!
When I stop to really think about it, there’s nothing productive about my criticizing of him and it’s not furthering our relationship with each other! However, the thought of praising what is working, discussing options and continuing to work as a team gets me super excited!
As I think about our journey as special needs parents it’s easy to criticize and get really mad quite frankly…why didn’t you do the medicine this time around I’m always doing it (be careful of that always word 😊, could you maybe call the insurance company this time, you never got to the pharmacy, why did you fold the towels like that instead of how I do it, do you not know how to take out the trash, you saw this meltdown about to happen and did nothing, all I’m asking is for you to brush their teeth, did you really put those shoes on with that shirt, get off the phone…..the list could go on and on….just to clarify…these aren’t all examples from my household I’m coming up with a variety of things that can be said in a household. 😊
When I read these examples, communication comes to mind. So many of these challenges and struggles in our lives could be handled with talking to each other…expressing our thoughts and desires in a positive way instead of waiting for the opportunity to squash ones spark. I’m super excited for this because there is way more to come in future blogs!
I hadn’t told my husband what I was doing, hoping he would notice there’s “something a little different”…well cat’s out of the bag now, but it’s all for good!
My question and challenge to you today is: What could you do for a Day of Courage that will ultimately better your world? Please share and let’s start a list! To check out more on the Day of Courage go to www.thedayofcourage.com and see what the amazing Chantelle Adams’ vision is for this day!
Wendy
