Sprouting Courage | Growing Confidence with Creativity
I want to show you a little of the process of a small original called “Sprouting Courage”. If you have seen any of my work you might have guessed that I love bears. I think they are terrifyingly beautiful animals that deserve our respect and adoration. But just like us they have to grow into their confidence and fierce disposition.
Sprouting Courage by Julie Wilmore
Time spent in nature can be transformative. Every time I am able to really immerse myself in nature, like take a camping trip for a few days or visit a national park I leave feeling transformed and born anew — feeling clear headed and whole. Nature is powerful and here we can see this cub starting to come into their own power. By adding these little leaves sprouting from his head we start to see there is a change taking place.
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
Fostering our courage is something we need to actively work to achieve. It is a muscle to be flexed. And thankfully it is something we can LEARN! To start: we cannot have courage without fear. Take a minute to sit with your fear and name it - put your feelings into words to better understand them and this will help to discern how to be courageous in spite of that fear. What are you afraid of? Is it the judgment of others? Failing if you try? Your fears are valid, the goal isn't to have no fear, but rather understand it.
Try to focus on your strengths rather than your shortcomings. We all have something that we are good at, it might be writing, it might be sports, it might be compassion. Taking the time to grow these strengths will actually lead to feeling more resilient and confident. Feeling capable and empowered will help you feel safe and secure which can improve our creativity, problem solving, and other essential parts of our life.
“Creativity takes courage.”
Another thing that has been helpful for me was something my therapist asked me when I was dealing with some anxiety; What's the worst that could happen? And honestly when I was able to just think about the worst outcome it was something I could totally handle. I didn't want it to happen, but I could sort of look from the outside and see I would manage, and my anxiety did not dissipate, but it became a bit easier to quiet.
Even bears get nervous, but they still climb mountains and explore for berries.
Taking some small risks are a way to break out of your comfort zone in manageable steps.Go try a new coffee shop, see a movie alone, take a ceramics class. Try something new that doesn't have high stakes. Soon your comfort zone will be expanding, things that once felt hard or scary will feel normal and you will feel a bit more courageous.
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
If you feel that it is too difficult to try alone, consider reaching out to a therapist, they can listen to your struggles and help guide you through your journey.
This drawing serves as a reminder to me, and maybe to you as well, that we might feel timid and cautious at times, but our strength continues to grow and if we feed that sprout of courage a little bit each day we can flourish as boldly as bears.
