Brave?

I survived my first speaking gig, and I think it went well. People asked a lot of good questions afterward and I sold a couple of books. But there’s something I’m going to have to get used to, and that’s being thanked for telling my story.

Usually, when I share my story, it’s to a group of people who have had similar issues, or at least one of them. Or I’m writing it, which can be seen by anyone but it’s not so personal. But this was my first experience of people coming up to me and throwing around words like “brave” and “courage.”

I don’t feel as if I’m being brave. To me, being brave means doing something scary, and putting my story out there is something I’ve done so much now that it’s not scary. Maybe it was brave in the beginning? I don’t know. But I’ll try to take such words in the spirit intended, because it doesn’t feel good to people to have their compliments brushed off.

And I’ll gladly take the thanks, because what I’m trying to do when I speak is intended to be of service, and a thank you means that I succeeded in some way.