The brave and bold Eleanor Roosevelt offered this advice:
Do something every day that scares you.
But I’m too scared to do something every day that scares me.
The word on the menopausal street is that we get braver and bolder as the Great Pause sets in.
Hmm.
Like Hillary Clinton, I sometimes invoke the spirit of Eleanor.
I need help becoming a true menopausal lady. Bolder. Tougher. Stronger. Empowered.
If Eleanor is too busy in Women Who Dared Heaven to assist me, I try another technique.
I imagine myself doing things that would really terrify me.
Driving a cab through NYC at rush hour.
Singing a solo in The Lion King.
There I go! Zooming through the Holland Tunnel.
The crowd and the critics sit spellbound as I belt out the high notes on Broadway.
Now am I ready to take on something not quite so scary?
Swallowing that gunk for a colonoscopy? Settling a dispute? Traveling by myself to Palau to research a novel?
Maybe.
What about you? Are you growing more timid? Are you becoming more bold? Any techniques to empower bravery?
Photo: I snapped this picture outside of the Hilton when I attended BlogHer this summer in New York City. Not an ace photographer, I was pleased to get two of my biggest fears in one photo.
Barbara Younger
Barbara Younger blogs from her home in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Along with Friend for the Ride: Encouraging Words for the Menopause Roller Coaster (http://friendfortheride.com), she writes books for children and adults. She lives in an old house with her husband Cliff. and collections of everything from dolls to buttons to bookmarks. She's the mother of two grown daughters and the grandmother to one adorable baby boy!
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I think that as you get older you definitely become braver and bolder and this is probably because we care less about what other people think … I sometimes do scary things that shock my younger friends, hence I think it’s an age thing, which does coincide with that menopausal stuff!! Great blog Barbara.
on December 12, 2012 at 9:14 am Deborah WyattI wonder if it’s hormones changing around that makes us bolder, life experience, or some combination? Anyway, it’s fun!
on December 12, 2012 at 11:39 am BarbaraI think you could be right – and I totally agree it is fun!
on December 13, 2012 at 9:56 am Deborah Wyatt