It’s said that courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage requires fear. So if that’s the case, we’re entering a time in history with massive potential for courage – because everyone is afraid.

The Courage to Embrace Adventure

On this episode of the PlayGrounding Podcast, you’ll hear one of a series of interviews with Stacey Newman Weldon, Founder of Adventure Wednesdays. Each of the ten “mini-interviews” you’ll hear woven into upcoming PlayGrounding episodes are reflections on her free ebook, Finding Fun, with ten steps to help you discover your “adventure mindset.” Step one is “Embrace Courage.”  

We often think of courage as taking on big, often overwhelming endeavors. Stacey teaches that it’s usually through baby steps that our courage can blossom and expand. The road to jumping out of a plane can start with taking a different way home from work. You never know what you’re capable of until you try!

A Reflection on Courage and Covid-19

As I was working on editing my interview with Stacey about courage, I began to think about this moment in history. Courage is a very timely topic when fear is so much a part of everyone’s lives.  So the show opens with my reflection on fear and how we desperately need to find the courage to own our emotions. Unprocessed grief and fear can lead us to not only hurt ourselves, but everyone around us.

Here are the five things I mentioned that can help you deal with your emotions so that you don’t “work your s#$t out on other people.”

Emotional Hygiene for the Time of Covid-19

1. Talk to someone you love – Ask each other what you’ve lost – what you’re grieving – what you miss the most about the time before the lockdown and what you’re most afraid of.

2. Talk to yourself (Journal) –  If you can’t or don’t want to talk about your feelings with others, journal it. Just get it out somehow. One valuable resource that can help you deal with your emotions is Meditation with RAIN from Tara Brach. On TaraBrach.com there are resources to help you begin to recognize and identify your emotions, learn to accept them, investigate where they’re coming from and learn to have compassion on yourself to work through them.

3. Get therapy. If you’re really struggling, talk to someone. If you can’t afford it, I’ve heard great things about Better Help, the app. For a monthly fee that’s about the same as one therapy appointment, you get weekly sessions and the ability to text your therapist. It might seem like a lot of money at a time like this, but if you’re really struggling, remember you’re doing this so you don’t blow up your relationships, yourself, your future. It’s worth it. (PlayGrounding has no affiliation with Better Help.)

4. Watch Brene Brown’s Netflix Special, The Call to Courage.

5. Write to me! I’m in this boat too. I’m not a therapist, but we can be quarantine buddies. You can reach me at kara (at) playgrounding.com. I’ll write you back. You don’t have to sign up for my email list, but if you do, just click reply and I’ll be on the other end.