If you are a being who has survived living in a hostile or scary or unsafe environment, other beings often label you as “brave.”
And this is true.
It takes a great deal of brave to survive losing your birth territory, being harassed by big hairy drooling fanged creatures, and getting passed from one home to another as if you were property, not to mention nearly getting flattened into a road pancake on the day you are finally rescued to your forever home.
That is a whole lot of brave, for sure.
But there are also many other shades of brave.
Sometimes being brave doesn’t mean going claws-to-the-wall against your foes.
Sometimes being brave means hunkering down, pulling in, taking shelter for a time.
Ultimately, brave is whatever keeps you alive from this moment to the next moment and then the next moment after that.
It might mean you are in your shelter for quite some time.
But this time is worth it. This time is brave time, too.
The truth is, it takes so much brave to stay put, to stay quiet, to stay still, to wait.
Ultimately, brave means acting when it is time to act and waiting when it is time to wait, and being wise (and brave) enough to tell when to do which one.
Pearl, Malti, Bruce & their mama
