On courage and authenticity

So I’ve been thinking {That’s good right?} about what it means to live a courageous and authentic life.  This thought process has made me realize how often I am not courageous; and how my lack of courage actually causes me to be inauthentic. Sort of.

In fact, it might seem odd, but this little blog right here is the prime example of my lack of courage. I have been writing steadily for over four years (FOUR YEARS!?) on this thing and for the most part I have kept it pretty hush-hush. Like when people ask what my hobbies are, I say “You know, the usual, hanging out with friends, traveling, skiing, swimming, listening to music, reading and *covers mouth and coughs a little* writing.” Ahem what? Writing? No, I didn’t say that.

And then whenever the inevitable “blog” word comes up, I feel like I should justify it by saying “I know this sounds reeeeaaally nerdy: I write a blog.” Go crawl in the corner and be ashamed.

So that’s the back story about my cowardice. But the root of it is this: I have such a hard time letting people just think what they will! So I avoid “putting myself out there” and maybe looking a little strange. This is not the way to live with courage and authenticity.

The first step toward courage and authenticity for me is actually owning up to who I am to my entire social network. {If you want to know how freaked out I get about the social networking thing…click here!} One of my hobbies is writing. I love writing. And one facet of this hobby includes writing this blog.

Sometimes I even write about really scandalous stuff. Like my faith. {Oh my goodness, no she didn’t.} Yes. Yes, I do.

Sometimes I write when I want to punch someone in the face… with words, of course. (Probably shouldn’t have written that right after the faith point I just made…)

Sometimes I write with humor.

Sometimes I exude melancholy.

But for the most part, I’m really just me. An authentic, me.

So thanks for reading, friends! (Including those who found me through a social networking sphere.) I hope we can stay friends even when I’m being courageous and authentic.