Brave or Stupid?

I was watching the Ugly Betty episode where Daniel decides to use all his own resources to keep the company going when they're basically bankrupt. Two other characters called him brave and it got me thinking...those two people might think him brave, but I bet the rest of us are calling him stupid. That seems to be the way of TV shows. Someone chooses something 'crazy' and we all say "Oh, that's a dumb move." Until the end of the show when it all works out and everyone is thrilled and we all say "Well, maybe not so stupid after all. Look how happy they all are!"

I was raised to believe myself brave for doing sensible, responsible things. Hard work and diligence are what move us forward in this life - Even if you don't love what you're doing or where it's taking you. Pushing ahead and being miserable is the 'brave' thing to do.

While I agree that sacrifice is a very beautiful and difficult thing to do, I don't think sacrificing happiness just for the sake of doing so is at all brave. In fact, I think it's very cowardly. It says life as it is, is good enough and can't get any better. It's proof that fear is crippling every choice to the point where risk is not an option.

Acting bravely requires risk. It involves taking a chance that it could all blow up in your face and fail miserably. Usually choosing to act bravely has one person saying "yeah, go, you can do it!" (maybe the one person is you) and all the rest saying "are you sure you want to do this? It sounds kinda stupid."

For me, I think an act of bravery would be to call myself a writer. Not a substitute teacher or a home-maker, but to create a self-fulfilling prophecy that I will get published and start to really work towards that goal. There are those in my life that say with sarcastic undertones "okay. good luck." There are also those that really believe I can do it. As of today: I'm going to choose to ignore the sarcasm, take in and learn from constructive criticism, and listen only to support.

I wonder if already published authors had those same naysayers in their life before being published. People  telling them in not so many words that dreaming of the New York Times Bestsellers list is dreaming too big. Aren't dreams supposed to be big? Isn't that why Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory watches the Nobel Prize awards?

What dreams are you afraid of voicing? Be brave: say it out loud and let the power of those words propel you towards your goal.