Tribe Life Tuesday: Manifesto of the Brave and Brokenhearted

A weekly post from my childhood to grown-up friend Carrie ~ 

sharing her awesome life and her desire to have community while doing it!

Happy TribeLife Tuesday. 

We have all been given this amazing gift of feeling. We get to feel lots of exhilarating emotions such as joy, happiness, love, gratitude, and more. At the same time, we must face the kryptonite to those emotions like sorrow, pain, grief, hurt, and disappointment.

Growing up, I certainly had no problem expressing my feelings, but once life started happening to me I began to reel my expression in a bit, and the more life happened the less I wanted to feel. The desire to feel was replaced by the longing to guard myself. So how do we balance the need to protect ourselves with our right to express our feelings?

It’s human nature to deflect pain; we do our best to avoid getting hurt. There is a place of safety we all wish we could stay in, sheltering ourselves from the shrapnel that life has a way of throwing at us. Unfortunately, authentic relationships cannot happen if we stay in that place. Truthfully, safety doesn’t always mean healthy. When we shield ourselves from pain we shield ourselves from joy.

At my core I want to do well with this life I’ve been given. I earnestly seek to do as much as I can to keep my heart and soul healthy. This is a continual pursuit for me and it’s often a struggle. It’s an unsteady bridge I must cross. On one side, the side I am on, is the kryptonite, on the other side is the antidote, and what’s in between is a rickety, crumbly, old bridge, and it’s the only option to get to freedom. 

So here are some things to consider this week:

• When something great happens to me, what is my first response
• When something hard happens to me, what is my first response? 
• Who is the first person I call when I receive great news? Bad news
• Do I have a deep, meaningful relationship with someone in my family? 
• Outside my family?
• Am I happy? If not, why?

Below is a beautiful manifesto that I keep with me. I invite you to partake:

MANIFESTO OF THE BRAVE AND BROKENHEARTED 

There is no greater threat to the critics 

and cynics and fearmongers 

Than those of us who are willing to fall 

Because we have learned how to rise. 

With skinned knees and bruised hearts; 

We choose owning our stories of struggle, 

Over hiding, over hustling, over pretending. 

When we deny our stories, they define us. 

When we run from struggle, we are never free. 

So we turn toward truth and look it in the eye. 

We will not be characters in our stories. 

Not villains, not victims, not even heroes. 

We are the authors of our lives. 

We write our own daring endings. 

We craft love from heartbreak, 

Compassion from shame, 

Grace from disappointment, 

Courage from failure. 

Showing up is our power. 

Story is our way home. Truth is our song. 

We are the brave and brokenhearted. 

We are rising strong.

--Brene Brown

Thank you for reading. 

See you next Tuesday!

Carrie

*Please note that content in guest blogs is not necessarily shared by the station manager (i.e. Wendi!)