being brave

life can throw all kinds of surprises at you

I watched a film yesterday called "the impossible." Loads of you would have heard of it I am sure but for those who haven't- it is a real life story of a family who survived the 2004 boxing day tsunami in Thailand.

Just for me watching it I had to be brave as I hate anything that is gory or shows a hint of blood!

However imagine living it. Metaphorically, I am sure that loads of you have been through a tsunami in your life and it's so easy to become selfish and only care about yourself.

Now, I am not saying there is anything wrong with looking after yourself, focusing on your future and practising self care- I believe these are all an essential part of living.

But if you come out of a rocky turbulent time and people say "time to be selfish now" are you going to listen to them? Honestly I am sure some people would as this is the kind of culture we live in.

People this past month have been saying to me " you have to be selfish now", "being selfish is the only thing that is going to get you through." When people said this to me , I couldn't help but laugh. To be honest most of them have been teachers and they are just wanting me to get the crazy high predicted grades I never in a million years thought I would be predicted for a-levels.  

But to me, there is so much more to life than that. Yes I want to do well, yes it would be amazing to achieve ABB in my a-levels, yes I will work hard. Yet, is it right to live selfishly?

Living selfishly goes against every moral I've ever tried to put out there in the world. Be resilient. Be strong. Be humble. Be gentle. Be caring. Be radiant. Be loving. Don't be selfish.

Linking back to the film I was watching I saw complete acts of selflessness. The mum (Maria) who was in agony and extremely injured heard a boy crying for help. Instead of rushing to get herself to the nearest hospital, she tried to find this boy and ended up rescuing him and he becomes reunited with his Dad.

You then also see her trying to talk to the patient next to her in the hospital, who looks scared, and alone.

She tells her son to leave her alone and to go round and find people to help.

This challenged me extremely.

So why have I called this blog post being brave? 

When life does through storms at us we often don't know how to react. I am trying to say this with sensitivity as  I know loads of people out there do have it really tricky.

But I wonder what you can accomplish when you are brave

I wonder how many people you can help and encourage?

I wonder if one day your story may be told in order to encourage others.

Don't be selfish and only focus on you: Be brave and show people what you can do,

You don't have to pretend that your hurt has never happened. Pain is never wasted and we can grow amazingly strong from it. If we don't mourn from our pain, we will never mend. However, the thing is hurt can become toxic- it can make you angry and spiteful.  A strong heart is a peaceful heart.

It's your time to be brave.

Be brave be bold with no regrets. 

Lots of love, anna-ruby xx