Courage on small days

Dad: ` Today is the big day. ( Your first day at school!)´

Son: `Why is the day big? Are there also small days?´

- translated from The Little Dragon Coconut.

Well, are there? I guess in this context any day that does not qualify as a `big´ day would categorically be a small day; the everyday. The small everyday. It is quite easy to give a lot of importance and attention to the `big´ days and forget about all the small days in between. Maybe we would have to look at what defines a big or a small day.

What is the difference between an important, a big day and an ordinary, a small day. Who gets to decide? The magnitude and `size´ of our days are probably shaped by our personal views, our family, our community, our society, our culture. EVERYTHING is relative. A first day at school would potentially qualify as a big day in my world but not necessarily in everyone's. Even just considering my half German background the first day of school has a different flavor to it, where I grew up compared to where I live now.

So, I would settle for YOU get to decide which days are your big days and which are your small days. Then I would think about what does a small day mean to you? Why is it small? Is that a bad thing? Is it a good thing? Maybe you actually really enjoy small days?! Those are exactly your days! Or maybe you live for the big stuff? In any case we all have them, the small(er) days, the ones which I would call everyday. No judgement.

So, how does courage even show up on those days? They are ordinary and little and they don't need much attention, let alone courage... (indulge me for just a bit longer here). This is where I wonder: when have I ever had a big courageous moment on a big day? A few come to mind; my wedding, a first day in a new job, the birth of my children (in no particular order!) When have I ever felt that a `big day´ was actually a sudden pivotal movement? I think a big day is, if anything a culmination of small days. Small moments and decisions, which occur all the time.

The small days are the majority of days which make up our lives. Every day we get the chance to practice what we want to do, make decisions, take them back, improve, try something new, change our minds, grow! Everything we have, everything we are and everything we do is the total of all days (big or small) to this date. So, every single day with all the decisions we have or have not made, all the actions we have or have not taken, the things we have or have not said have brought us to this very moment. Lots of little moments of courage in our every day life, when we have chosen to shape our future in a certain way, when we have chosen not to sit comfortably but to put ourselves out there and be vulnerable, they have brought us right here.

Courage is not always about the big 'jump in there' moments. It is found in the everyday. We should give ourselves more credit for being courageous on many occasions. Every day!

#courage#coaching#daretobe#patontheback