5 Steps to a Bold, Brave, Beautiful You

What does it take to be fully you?

What steps can you take to live a bolder, more brave, more beautiful life?

EMBRACE AUTHENTICITY

Living your bold, brave, beautiful life begins with being yourself. It’s your life, after all, not somebody else’s. So please, don’t try to imitate someone else’s life here. It’s never as beautiful or fulfilling in the end.

Being fake isn’t bold, brave, or beautiful. People can identify fake things and people from a mile away, and they want nothing to do with them. Authenticity is where it’s at!

I’m not saying you have to air all your dirty laundry on social media (that’s probably not a good idea and definitely isn’t necessary).

I’m merely suggesting that you bring your whole heart to the table and be willing to share it instead of hiding it behind a veneer of “fine” or polished perfection.

2. LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF AS YOU ARE

Along with embracing authenticity, living your boldest, bravest, most beautiful life means embracing all of who you are, including your flaws and the things you’re not so proud of.

Maybe it’s your jean size, your loud laugh, your frizzy hair, your habit of interrupting people, or your temper.

I’m not saying you have to stop working to become the best version of yourself, but I am giving you permission to give yourself a break and accept where you’re at in this moment.

Growth requires that we acknowledge where we’re at before we can make a plan to move forward or recognize what we need to do so.

And if you’re looking to live a bold, brave, beautiful life (and I assume you are, since you’re reading this), then part of the process is learning to love all of who you are so that you can confidently show up in the world and embrace everything that you have to offer the world.

3. RUN YOUR OWN RACE

Comparison seems to be the name of the game these days. It’s all too easy to hop online and see photos and videos of what others are up to and instantly feel dissatisfied or ashamed of our own lives.

But choosing to live a bold, brave, beautiful life encourages us to focus on our path, running our own races instead of trying to run anyone else’s.

We are our own people, and each of us has a unique race marked out for us. It just won’t work to try to run anyone else’s, speed ours up to match theirs, or try to control the way it turns and curves to imitate theirs.

If we keep our eyes on our own race, we won’t run the risk of missing out on the things right at our feet that we might otherwise be too distracted to see. And those are often the most wonderful things because they’re here and now, and they’re specifically for us.

4. FACING FEAR

Boldness draws out our fear. Bravery faces fear head-on. We can’t live bold, brave, beautiful lives while hiding under our covers.

It’s normal to be afraid and want to play small so we don’t risk as much. But that’s not the pathway to our best or most beautiful lives.

When we boldly and bravely face our fears, we can reach new heights, gain valuable skills, learn lessons we couldn’t learn any other way, and overcome the obstacles before us.

Facing our fears can actually reinforce our bravery, which just perpetuates the bravery cycle! It helps us strengthen our bravery muscles so we can tackle even bigger tasks and obstacles ahead.

Not to mention the amazing power facing our fears has for the people who are watching us. When we demonstrate our willingness to face our fears with boldness, whether we “succeed” or “fail” by conventional standards, we show others that it’s the openness and the trying that matter, not the outcome.

5. BEING A HUMBLE LEARNER

There’s no point at which we’ve fully arrived in life; we all have room to grow, no matter where we’re at on our respective journeys.

Living a bold, brave, beautiful life involves being willing to admit when we have room to grow and more to learn, admitting when we don’t know the answers, and being willing to pursue them and challenge ourselves to keep growing.

Maybe that looks like enrolling in a class to learn a new skill or brush up on an old one, or like having a conversation with someone who’s more experienced in a particular way, or like trying new things and being willing to fail but also learn from the experience.

As we share out bold, brave, beautiful lives, we’re pouring out into others’ lives. And it’s too draining to be pouring out without also being poured into by someone else. That’s where a mentor can come in, or a community, or some quiet learning and reflection time. But whatever it looks like, we need to be fueling ourselves so we can live our boldest, bravest, most beautiful lives with abandon!

Which step did you find most enlightening or helpful? Let me know in the comments!

And if you’re looking to learn more and be poured into in the context of community, check out The Simple Joy Community, where we talk all about living and working with simplicity so we can do more of what we love and less of what we don’t!