To be tender-hearted and unafraid of the future, that’s what the coming year is calling us to be. Naturally, as each year draws to a close, we reflect on who we’ve been and who we want to become.
Use the phrase “to be soft and brave” as an end-of-year journal prompt. Ask yourself how these two words show up in your life. For me, being soft and brave means having a heart that is loving, vulnerable, and generous, paired with a mind that is courageous and open to endless possibility. That’s who I hope to be in the year ahead.
the heart
Checking in with our hearts and souls is so important; that’s where our hope lives. The heart is delicate, and with repeated blows, it can easily harden through both the controlled and uncontrollable moments of life: rejection, loss, failure, and so much more.
For some, the word “soft” carries a connotation of weakness, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. To be soft is simply the opposite of hard; it’s being open, gentle, and willing to be shaped. Soft hearts allow us to be more generous, empathetic, hopeful, loving, and kind. They give us the ability to truly embrace and feel what lives in the hearts of others.
the mind
The brave and courageous often accomplish more than the cautious and fearful. Bravery allows us to take risks with greater ease and agility. We need courage for so many moments in life, to initiate difficult conversations, to speak up for ourselves when silence feels safer, and to put ourselves out there for the things we care about, even when failure is possible.
Bravery fuels the mind’s sense of possibility. The more we train ourselves to face life with courage instead of fear, the more we begin to believe that anything is possible, because why shouldn’t it be?
Hope is the bridge between being soft and being brave. Softness gives us love, and bravery protects it and leads it forward. Perhaps this is reaching, but it sometimes feels as though we’re losing the ability to love deeply and take risks. May the year ahead bring more love and more wins in the dreams we choose to pursue.
