Katie Dean - Becoming Brave: A sassy womans guide to turning fear into bravery

Title Page

BECOMING

BRAVE

A sassy womans guide to
turning fear into bravery

Katie Dean

Durham, NC

Copyright

Copyright 2018 Katie Dean

Becoming Brave

Katie Dean

www.yourwildlife.com.au

katie@yourwildlife.com.au

Published 2018, by Torchflame Books
an Imprint of Light Messages

www.lightmessages.com

Durham, NC 27713 USA

SAN: 920-9298

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61153-276-0

E-book ISBN: 978-1-61153-275-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930935

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 International Copyright Act, without the prior written permission except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Dedication

She wasnt looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword.

- Atticus

You dont
need anyone
to come and
save you.
You were made for this,
and this will be
part of
what makes you.

Preface

T his book had to be written. She wouldnt leave me alone and was one of the most persistent passion projects I have ever encountered. These words endured. They grappled to be here. They rumbled and I softened.

Even after I lost the book completely to a not so epic move on my part, she kept on knocking, so I know this message is meant for you.

Thank you, for being the person I wrote this for.

Your Invitation

S o here we are. Im heavily pregnant, my Cavoodle is at my feet and my tiny hurricane is in the bedroom next door asleep.

Ive done it.

I just wrote the final chapter for this piece of sass and magic. If I do say so myself, I think its the sh*t.

While I have written these eighteen chapters of personal poop storms and learnings, and its technically finished, I dont think Becoming Brave and I will ever be truly done.

WHY?

Because we never really stop doing the work.

I thought I was Brave and knew what that was all about when I began writing these pages, but now I feel an entirely different type of bravery flooding my veins. This book has been there to guide me through the scariest thing Ive ever had to do, so far.

Perhaps that was her purpose all along.

Here I was, setting out to write a book to help women just like me turn Fear into Bravery, when in actual fact, perhaps I was writing to remind myself that I have everything I need to turn the constant fear that I had endured into the Bravest thing I have ever done so far (I have to keep adding the so far because life has a divinely surprising way of keeping us on our toes which allows us to unlock different levels of our awesome), but more on that later.

I cant imagine whats about to go down when I bring this second babe home from hospital, but something tells me Im not meant to know because it would scare me senseless. Ignorance is bliss, they say, and that seems pretty OK with me for the minute. I totally have a healthy respect for THE FEAR. I have for many years. I see this undervalued emotion as the catalyst for greatness, but before we dive right in to all the shenanigans, true tales and tidbits, I want to see if you, my friend, are really up for it.

I spent a large chunk of my wild-haired youth avoiding any self-inquiry which in hindsight twas not my smartest move.

I avoided any feelings that I didnt understand. I numbed myself out; ran from, avoided and hid from any sign that I would have to get real with myself, and I became quite the expert let me tell you!

I thought I was living this wild and free life back then, when in fact, I was trapped. I was trapped in a cage of my own making. It wasnt until I stopped running that the adventure truly began.

The adventure to get to know myself.

The great adventure within.

GASSSSPI know. Sounds fun, right?

In order to truly love ourselves we must first start to get to know ourselves. We must weather the shit storms this proverbial introduction is going to create. Amongst the meditations and the panic attacks, lost loves, heart breaks, breakthroughs and break downs I realized something, the journey to become your truest most authentic self really is the wildest ride.

All this, while I was out there chasing freedom,
when the freedom I was actually craving
would come in the form of permission to be myself.

I am on the journey of a lifetime and its not something you need to do alone.

The question is, Brave Heart, are you going to join me?

Are you game?

Are you up for the wildest ride of your days?

Are you keen to join me to bring an understanding to one of the biggest doorstops of the emotional world?

For me, through the pages of this book, it really has come full circle and just like Rafiki presents Simba to the heard in the Lion King, consider this my equally extravagant handing over of what is about to come.

Cue Music.

Its the ciiiiiiiircle of Liiiiiiiiiiife.

In these pages, you are going to walk through eighteen chapters of never before shared True Tales and options to NEXT LEVEL your own life. Youll get to see a side of me that not many people do. A side that I believe we all have. As women, we are all connected and now you and I get to share this experience too.

You are now officially part of my movement to embrace the F-Bomb .

F-YEAH!

In order to live
a brave and
courageous life,
first, you have to
allow yourself
to feel
a little scared.

We All Have the Same Stuff

F ear doesnt discriminate.

I am here to help you make this all too familiar F-Word into a trusted forever friend. Your ally. Your compadre.

Your sign letting you know that you are on the right track. By the time, you have turned the final page of this dalliance with my four-lettered friend, you wont make any major life decisions without it. Just as the words on one of my favorite shirts quotes, We are all connected, and this was one of the motivators for writing this book, to unite us and to create a worldwide echo of the words Me Too.

We all have the same stuff. The details are just a little different.

There is a current theme and some sisterly solidarity amongst our stories and it is time we let it bring us together, and revel in the fact, that we are not alone.

• We have all retreated at some point by a fear of judgment or of being judged.
• We all worry that we arent enough .
• We all want to be loved.
• We all have felt regret.

At some point, we have been fearful of failure, or on the flip side had a fear of being seen coupled with the judgment that follows suitand, while both of those are a little differentthe result is still the same.

We are kept still.

We become stuck .

We are kept stagnant and this is where the damage is done. If you were to take a clear flowing river of ideas and dam it up, that creative water is going to become rotten. The stench of wasted opportunities would burn your nostrils like a cup full of straight Dettol. What a waste.

We dont want to stank up our house, or burn our nostrils for that matter (thanks, Mom), so lets learn to make Fear our friend, fall in love with the mystery and use this energy source for making magic.

Let me share with you, a few different ways Fear has made her presence known to me over the years, to see if you can see yourself in any of it. When you do, and I believe you will, you will understand what I mean when I say, We all have the same stuff.