A friend sent me a message the other day. She wrote that my blog had inspired her to realize a business idea she has had for years. She wrote – Of course, you were the one to inspire me. You are so brave! I was very happy for her comment, but it sparked a question. A question, that has been spinning in my brain for the last 48 hours. Am I brave, enough?
What is brave?
Being brave comes in many forms, ways and actions. Being brave can be doing something dangerous or just very courages based who you are and which situations you are in. It can be:
- rescuing someone from a burning house
- skydiving
- killing a spider
- leaving your violent husband
- starting your own company
- interfering when someone is being bullied
- wearing that smashing red lipstick
The bravest actions this week was the young Swedish man who chased down the murderer who attack the school where he worked. The brave hero paid with his life, saving others. It is impossible to understand the grief his family, friends and local community feel. A true hero and the ultimate brave action! R.I.P.
Am I brave?
Of the examples above I have only killed spiders and interfered if someone has been bullied. So my friends statement, you are so brave, took me by surprise. I do not feel very brave. Yes, I jump into new stuff, trying to realize a few of my many ideas and dreams. But too often, I have strong doubts in my head and heart. I might look brave and confident, but I hide my feelings.
Read my full bio (NOW in English)!
What are some of the bravest things I have done in life? It was not so easy to make this list. I am not sure what qualifies for a brave action and I wish I was more brave in helping others.
- Chasing down boys who bullied my friends at school
- Moving alone to France, when I was 18
- Going for partnership at Deloitte Consulting Norway, as the first woman
- Taking on the role as president of the Norwegian Snowboard Association
- Walking up to national top politicians and other top level influencers, starting conversations or asking critical questions in large fora
- Returning home with preemies, being super scared that they would stop breathing
- Launching this blog, knowing I am already super busy
How can I be become more brave?
Ok, so let us say that launching this blog was brave. I was really happy to know that I had inspired my friend to go through with her business idea. How can I become more brave in my blogging?
I have a dilemma. This week I had a meeting with United Influencers. The global CEO Thomas Moen asked me – Have you considered to write the entire blog in English? Good question. United Influencers are going global. Should I?
My plan has always been to only write my travel reviews in English. The travel posts do not feel so scary. They are easy to write. It is only me sharing some travel experiences. The leadership posts are more scary, when it comes to language. They involve more reflection, more research and a more formal language.
But the CEOs question made me start defining what steps that must be made. It will be a big step for me and will involve a lot of work. The biggest challenge is to write with high quality, both vocabulary, grammar and spelling. I even tweeted blog guru, Blog Tyrant, on his opinion!
What do I gain? Of course a bigger audience, more readers and followers, that might be inspired by some of my thoughts and experiences. Still, if my English is bad, it would backfire big time.
What will I lose? Norwegian readers, who have trouble reading English or readers that feel distanced by it. Will the step for a global audience, mean that I am stepping on my own fellow Norwegians? I hope not. Still, it makes me uncertain.
Over the next weeks, I will investigate it more. It must feel right. This blog post is my test post. My blog, my post, my English. I am not sure if it is good enough. If I go for it, and it fails. At least I was brave enough to go for it!
And I am NOT writing this, because I want any kind of recognition for being brave. I just wanted to share my thoughts this morning.
Are you brave enough? Do you know someone who are brave? Let them know!
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Brave wishes for a great weekend,
Cecilia 🙂