Living Every Day Brave
The following guest post was written by Rachel Linden, author of Becoming the Talbot Sisters.
Living Every Day
Brave
by Rachel Linden
Today I am choosing to be every day brave.
What does that mean, you may ask? In essence, every day
brave means choosing courage in the face of challenge. Believing that on the
other side of fear is something better. It means embracing bravery as a mantra,
a habit, a way of life, and embracing it every single day.
Five years ago I took a giant, nerve-wracking step toward my
lifelong dream of being a published novelist and sent query letters to a dozen
renowned literary agents in the US, asking them to consider representing my debut
novel. I said a prayer, squared my shoulders, and waited for their replies.
Eleven responses were rejections, which I was expecting. But one beautiful
response was a yes!
Since that first yes, I have experienced a few dozen
marvelous open doors, acts of grace, and sheer miracles on the road to
publication and my dream career as a writer, but I have also faced far more rejections,
disappointments and challenges. With each challenge and disappointment I have a
choice. Will I buckle in the face of struggle and opposition? Or will I choose
to be every day brave once more. Chin up, shoulders back, step forward. I CAN
do this!
In my stories I naturally gravitate toward themes about
courage, connection and hope. My central characters are strong women facing
tremendous challenges both internal and external. In my new novel, Becoming the
Talbot Sisters, estranged twin sisters Waverly and Charlie take an unexpected road
trip across central Europe. Although both are successful career women – Waverly
is the star of a popular home entertaining show Simply Perfect and Charlie is an international aid worker living in
Budapest- they each face significant challenges in their lives. The story
features themes of infertility and surrogacy, career woes, past sexual trauma
and the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable women. In the face of all of
these issues Charlie and Waverly exhibited surprising grit, choosing to have
courage and hope no matter how grave their circumstances. For me, the Talbot
Sisters truly embody the essence of every day brave.
It’s true that Charlie and Waverly are fictional characters,
but their struggles and triumphs highlight deeper truths about our lives as
women. That is, after all, the beauty and purpose of literature, is it not? To
illuminate our human experience and show us a higher way?
In the past five years I have had to choose to be brave in
the face of significant challenges, both personal and professional. In addition
to being a novelist, I am a wife and mother of two small children, and an
international aid worker who has lived in central Europe and worked in over 30
countries around the globe. These past five years have been have been rich with
opportunity, joy and potential for growth, but they have also held their fair
share of rejection, loss, and disappointment.
We face myriad challenges as women in this modern life. It
is likely we will face significant adversity both personally and professionally
at different points in our lives. In order to ascend, excel, triumph, we must make
the choice to courageously encounter those challenges when they come, bravely
facing every challenge, every day.
In the light of this truth, I want to ask the following
questions. What does every day brave mean to you? Are you living every day
brave? Why or why not? Today, how will you choose to be every day brave?
Chin up, shoulders back, step forward. You CAN do this!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rachel Linden is a novelist and international aid worker whose adventures living and traveling in fifty countries around the world provide excellent grist for her stories. She holds an MA in Intercultural Studies from Wheaton College and a BA in Literature from Huntington University. Linden also studied creative writing at Oxford University during college.
Currently, Rachel lives in beautiful Seattle, WA with her husband and two young children. She enjoys creating stories about hope and courage with a hint of romance and a touch of whimsy. Her first book, Ascension of Larks, released in 2017. Becoming the Talbot Sisters (Thomas Nelson) is her second release.
Find Rachel Linden online at www.rachellinden.com, on Facebook (authorrachellinden) and on Instagram (rachellinden_writer).
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