Just last week, I was speaking to some coworkers, about to tell them a story, and I prefaced it with the phrase, “I’m not brave.” Many of them laughed; my fear of snakes and sharks and the unknown is a common topic of conversation (we are therapists, after all).
Ironically, I spend most of my days talking to the people who see me about being brave, taking risks, and doing the hard things. This discrepancy between what I encourage others to do and what I was doing was on my mind more and more during sessions. I would sit with a client and challenge them about staying somewhere where they didn’t feel fulfilled or were unhappy. We would review pros and cons of going and staying. We would talk about the cost - what is the cost of doing what feels easier but living with the price of unhappiness versus what is the cost of doing what feels much more dangerous but having the possibility of living a life more aligned with one’s values?
I knew in January that I would have to be brave. I would have to do the thing I couldn’t be sure of. I could not simply sit by and watch others do the hard things in life while I simply supported them in doing so. It was unfair to live my life as a bystander to their efforts- always encouraging them to leap while not actually doing so myself.
So, this is my jump. This is my hard thing. This is my brave moment. Honeybee Psychotherapy & Behavioral Health is an idea, a whisper of a dream, that has been in the back of my mind for years. It never quite felt like the right time. It never quite felt like the right place. And, maybe that is the point. It will never be the right time or the right place, or *maybe it is always the right time and the right place.*
Regardless, I am so excited about this new endeavor, and I am so excited to have y’all come along with me! I am hopeful for great things and believing that good will come. I am not afraid of failure - after all, failure is the destiny of each and every human being. I am afraid of not struggling, not trying, and staying “safe” but never living authentically.
And, this is my challenge to you. This is your moment. This is your time. Be brave! The world needs more people just exactly like you, living as your genuine, authentic self! I am completely and entirely sure of it, and I stand alongside you. With you. Together.
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?
From the Jewish tradition, a story of Esther, a queen
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