Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid
it's also being the only one who knows you're lonely, sad, or broken
bravery is walking alone and smiling because the people
in the cars driving by need to have their days brightened
bravery is leaving home and saying you had a good day,
when you're crashing down inside and you might as well
have built a sandcastle in a hurricane for yourself to stand on, bravery
is still being a rock, because others need a place to stay as well.

Bravery
I thought I was brave
with the scars to prove it.
My legacy -
   broken bones,  split knuckles,
   black eyes and loose teeth.
   Adulation and respect.
I fought  both man and isms
Never backed down.
But a black man, driving
an Uber taught me the truth of
true bravery.
Harassed, insulted, threatened by
a low-life passenger,
  white racism covered in a cheap suit and tie,
he refused to take the bait.
He denied himself the pleasure of
      justified violence.
He told me his story -
and anger for him, righteous indignation,
crashed over me in furious waves.
I admonished him for not
confronting that mans ignorance
   with a closed and determined fist.
Never back down, right?
Gently, he spoke the truth of
   black men in America.
His eyes caught mine in the rearview mirror.
You, he said, are innocent until proven guilty.
Protected by a system that
oppresses me.
I am guilty - period - and would be lucky
to be arrested, not killed,
  in a confrontation with that bigot.
So he did nothing, let the swine in a tie
off at his destination,
and drove on - leaving that pig to
wallow in his hate.
His bravery earned him nothing.
No adulation. No respect. No recognition.
Nothing except another day of life.
Another day with his family.
In contrast - my lifetime of bravery.
A pale reflection, when set beside his truth.
He was brave, not I.
My self-styled bravery, forever
tainted
by my privilege.

I need you to understand that it is okay to have a soul that is both tender and tired. I need you to understand that it is okay to be gentle with yourself, that is okay to feel what you are feeling. I need you to know that it is okay to not be okay, that it is okay to feel sad even if you do not fully understand it. I need you to know that you are the product of what is both hopeful and haunted within you, and it is okay to exist in this world as someone who is simply figuring out how to balance that.

Because this is what they don’t tell you — being a human is a confusing and messy thing. Life will amaze you in the most stunning ways, and it will also break your heart. Life will gift you the kinds of lessons that grow you and build you and help for you to bloom into the person you have always hoped to be, but it will also carry within it the kinds of losses that stay with you, that change you and mould you in uncomfortable ways. Life will demand for you to heal even when it hurts. For you to be brave, for you to fight for yourself.
Because at the end of the day, bravery isn’t a battlefield. It isn’t fast cars, or stunted risk. Bravery is the quietest thing you will ever know. Bravery is getting up in the morning when your bones are heavy and your heart does not want the light to crack within it. Bravery is being gentle with yourself, especially when it isn’t convenient or easy, especially when you are not a shining example of the person you strive to be.

But most of all, bravery is the way you stretch towards the light. It is the way you bloom in the direction of goodness, even when you may not know what you are reaching for. Bravery is allowing yourself to believe that you are growing, even when it does not feel like it. Bravery is knowing that there is more for you, that you will save yourself like you always have before; that you will survive.

To each their own form of bravery
For though this life is an individual test
It is not a challenge of rivalry

All have their hardships
Struggles of pain and unfairness
Working to rise again once being tripped

Do not judge another by what is seen
For bravery is often quiet
Keeping hidden where they've been

There are struggles that you
Will never, ever know
That may be very real to those around you

From physical limitations and disabilities
To emotional pain and despair
Life shows us our certain mortality

The goal is to still appreciate the gift of life
And become a better person
Becoming refined through our strife

So at points when you're low
And especially at points when you're high
Never judge someone, for you never know

Someone you see could be fighting
The fight of their lifetime, so think
Before you assume it's weakness you're sighting

Their fight may have just begun
Or maybe it's been going and going
And they can't last, they're done

No one has the right to judge another's bravery

bravery doesn't
happen overnight
bravery
has been living in your
bones, dormant,
but alive,
waiting for you
to see that it has
always been yours
waiting for you
to marvel when you
see that you can do
what you've always
wanted to do
and be who
you've wanted to be

There are so many kinds of bravery in this world, my Mother said. The ones where you feel like a small ship sailing through the stormy ocean waves, and the ones where you dry your tears and keep charging ahead even when your knees give out. There are those kinds of bravery where you sacrifice your own self and the ones you love for something much bigger, and those where you decide to live with endless regrets and guilt just for the sake of a single important moment. There are those, too, where you almost give all your life, all the strength you have just to be a little less hopeless, just to have a simple but comfortable life.

But there is another kind of bravery, too. The kind that asks you to take a step back and breathe when everything gets too heavy. The kind that pats your head when you fall down and tells you that it is okay to be home again. The kind that only reminds you of being tender to yourself, of knowing that bravery doesn't always mean going on even when it hurts. Sometimes, it means knowing when to stop and accepting that it's okay to give up and take your time rather than blindly losing everything running ahead.

I hope you don't always mistake resilience for bravery. I hope you treat yourself as someone important, too.

bravery does not
scream, it does not shout, yet
it's louder than all