A saw this quote in a daily inspirational quotes email that I get – “A big part of being confident is being brave, and you can’t be brave unless you’re scared.” (Bo Burnham)
I’ve posted here a number of times about taking chances in life and that normally involves being brave enough to try something new or to meet someone new – to put yourself “out there” somehow and open yourself up to the possible pain of failure (See Be brave and dare to love someone)
Oft times, the feared pain is not physical so much as emotional when you open yourself up to share with others. It can be scary; but you must risk the pain of failure if you are to pursue the rewards of success.
The order of the words in todays post title is important. I could have said scare yourself and be brave, but I think it is important to be brave enough to scare yourself first, and then let bravery kicking in to deal with the situation that you have created. That might be trying something new that scares you or meeting someone new who you have been afraid to try to meet.
Many times, being brave enough to try something that you were afraid to do turns out to be no big deal. The imagined bad things that were holding you back don’t occur and the great new thing that you end up doing turns out not to be all that great anyway. That’s life. You should at least feel good about having overcome those false fears that were holding you back. Learn from that.
Successful people often report feeling an adrenaline rush that accompanies the decision to be brave and take the risk. One does not get such a rush from doing nothing or from taking the safe way out of a situation. It is that rush of adrenaline that pushed them over the top of the mental or physical barriers that were holding them back and allows them to be successful. We often call that final push bravery or confidence; but most times it is just not being timid and not stopping ourselves that allows our success.
So, today, and this coming week, resolve to be brave enough to scare yourself. Try that thing that you’ve been afraid to try. Introduce yourself to the person that you’ve been afraid to meet. Don’t hide in a shell of fear. Put yourself out there.
Dare to try. Dare to love. Dare to fail. Feel the rush of daring to be brave.
Scare yourself.
NormsMilfordBlog 
I think thatnitâs interesting that Native American warriors are called, Braves. Of all the politically correct changes in the names of sports teams, otâs interesting to note that the Atlanta Braves stays the same.