A Brave Thing

We have a young friend named, Ellie, (who used to date one of our sons) who wrote a sort of poem on Facebook that I’d like to share with you.

I think many of us can relate….

By Ellie Heath.

I just did a brave thing!

-

Then, my shitty little demons knocked on the door.

They were like, “hey, we know you wanna feel brave, but what about the past? The past is over here and they have some shameful memories they think you need to be reminded of.”

“Nice try,” I say as I think to close the door, wondering why I opened it in the first place.

I take two steps before realizing the demons are inside now and they’ve brought the past with them.

“Remember that time in 11th grade when you-“

“Hey! Why are you here?” I ask directly.

They perk up! I’ve never asked them this question before.

“Well, we’re… we’re uhh… well, you uhhhh….”

“I what?”

“You did that brave thing and…”

“I did, yes. And?”

“Well, it didn’t go perfectly.”

“No, it didn’t.”

“You messed up a couple times.”

“I did.”

“Well, usually when you mess up, you like us to come over. Then you let us in, and we remind you of the past for the rest of the night. It’s kind of, like, a routine.”

“Hmmmm, well. Not tonight.”

“Not tonight?”

“Nope. I’ve thought about it. You can leave.”

You should’ve seen their expressions! They could not believe it. I even surprised myself!

“Well uhhhh, we guess we’ll be on… our… way???”

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

-

Tonight I did a brave thing.

And then I pushed my demons out the door where they belong!

How many of us can’t let go of the past? How many of us can’t stop regretting our past mistakes/sins?

Learn from them? Yes! Sure! I hope so!

But hang on to them? NO!

I think the bravest thing she did was to ask her ‘demons’ to leave. We need to stop ‘going there’ and allow ourselves to move forward , locking the door to the thoughts that want to remind us that we’ll never be good enough.

Let’s be brave today.

Peace.