*Courage*

Courage is defined as "bravery, fortitude, and intrepidity. It's the ability to fight fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.

I picked up a book last night to read and found this quote. I love it. The symptoms and the illness are not the same thing. The illness exists long before the symptoms. Rather than being the illness, the symptoms are the beginning of its cures. The fact that they are unwanted makes them all the more a phenomenon of grace -- a gift of God, a message from the unconscious, if you will, to initiate self-examination and repair." ~ M. Scott Peck.

It takes courage to make changes. It takes courage to be vulnerable. It takes courage to cry in the middle of Panera. It takes courage to admit you don't have it all together. It takes courage to be real in front of people and not care what they think. It takes courage to be a freaking hot mess and be okay with your mess. I'm tired of being afraid of everything.....of not being free. I'm grateful to have met more than a handful of friends who I can be real with. Who love me enough to be honest with me. Who value me. Who are ok with and can sit with me in my junk. I feel loved. That gives me courage.