I once peed on a cockroach.
Seriously! No lie! It. Was. Frightening. It
was an experience I will never forget! (Especially since that disgusting creepy
crawler was the size of a cat!)
It was before I was married to my
computer programmer nerd, before I had my three children, before I had
earned my degree in English from Utah State University. I had flown for
hours and hours across the ocean, up over the North Pole, and down for a flyby past Japan to get to
China. After the hustle and bustle of the Hong Kong airport and getting
past customs and several passport checkpoints, I found myself at a tiny
bus station in southern China. My traveling companions and I were about
to ride a bus all night to get to Yangshuo--a green, vibrant, and lush little
city. I knew that if I didn't use the bathroom before stepping foot on
that rickety old bus, I was going to be in trouble.
And THAT is
where it happened. I walked into the bathroom and saw that there were no
toilets, no sinks, no "stall walls," no doors...just a narrow ditch to stand over
and pee in! I took one look at that bathroom and wondered what I had
gotten myself into. I was going to be traveling throughout China for
close to three weeks, and I wondered if I had the courage to do it!
I took a deep breath, straddled the ditch, and went for it. On a cockroach. (EEW EEW EEW EEW!!!)
But
here's what I learned, and here's the reason why I share this silly and
disgusting story: I am braver than I know, braver than I realize,
braver than I give myself credit for.
I. Am. Brave.
And
here's the thing, my sisters and friends, WE ALL ARE. I believe that as women, we are all born
with the very bravery required to do all we need to do, to be all we need to be for our families and communities. Like blood, bravery runs through our veins. Like bone, it is what keeps us standing day after day. It is as innately apart of us as our need to nurture is.
We have to be brave to be women in this world. We have to be
brave to be mothers in Zion. We have to be brave to be valiant,
stalwart, righteous, faithful daughters of God. I have to be brave to be
married to a gorgeous man who suffers from a chronic illness. I have to
be brave to be the mother of an autistic son. I have to be brave to
raise strong and confident daughters in a world where society and media
is telling them who they should be and what they should look like. I
have to be brave to live my painful, beautiful, challenging, and
wonderful life.
What can we do to be brave and to stay brave, to harness that bravery that might be (seemingly) hidden within?
We can pull up our boot straps and go to work. We can serve. We can forget ourselves and show love for our neighbor. We can drop to our knees
and whisper fervent prayers to heaven. We can ask God to help us, guide us, lead us, comfort us, strengthen us. We can take time to breathe more deeply and be gentle and patient with ourselves. We can soldier on, we can hope on.
I know we can do it. We can do it together.
WE CAN.
Aleisha, have you ever considered writing uplifting notes for GIRLS LOVE MAIL?
ReplyDeleteCheck out their .com. You'd be perfect for that service 'project.'
It's women like YOU who help women like ME be braver than we think we are. xoxo #ihearttheleishmcd
ReplyDelete