These days, my world couldn’t be more filled with a need for courage. Disruption, loss, uncertainty, chaos. Some days, grief feels sewn to my side. Others, potential. 

For the many of you I know are in it with me ― "it" being the gauntlet of midlife bewilderment and transformation ― this note is for you.

Adrienne Maree Brown recently shared a post about feeling all of our feelings, especially the big ones, as our highest portal to creativity ― that because we feel, we can generate new futures. We can bring forth what hasn’t been. We can fully process and move through pain. 

Our grief becomes our offering.

I have found this to be true. Many people ask me how I can write, create and serve in all the ways that I do in such a time as this. For me, how could I not? 

Creativity and self-expression have always been my most essential windows to healing.

The other, reality. 

Not what I wish to be true or feel desperate to hold on to, but what is. As it is. 

Both feeling and facing reality, then transforming your truths into honest, creative expression, take tremendous courage. A bravery only those who have lost it all come to understand.

So, consider this note a nudge towards courage ― just for you. Like love, courage seems to expand the more we use it and share it. My cup overfloweth these days.