A few weeks ago, I read a quote. I don’t remember where I saw it or in what context, but it stuck with me. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” I’m not the bravest person, but I also don’t exactly shy away from a challenge. I’m somewhere in the middle, but if I’m being honest, I have always lived on the tame side of life. I don’t always embrace the fullness of life because I get too caught up in rules and in the status quo. Maybe that’s why I decided to incorporate this quote into my life that day…maybe I realized I wasn’t living to my fullest potential because I was scared, and when the quote challenged me, I had to accept it.

That day, I started consciously looking for little acts of bravery to perform that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. I didn’t tell anyone I was doing this, because for me, it was a personal challenge. Only I would know if I had the guts to do the things from which I normally shied away. I think my first act of bravery was wearing a pair of massive heels to church. Let me establish something: I am a five-foot-ten girl, so six-inch heels make me into an actual Amazon woman. My height, paired with a passion for flashy fabulous heels, results in a constant battle between self-consciousness and self-expression. Sometimes the heels win; sometimes my shaky self-image wins. After I adapted this quote, I realized that the heels had to win. My fears and insecurities shouldn’t have the power to turn something I love into something scary. So what if I’m six-foot-four? My heels are fabulous, and I look damn good. This little, unimportant choice jumpstarted my experience of facing my daily fears head on.

After a few weeks, I started realizing that I was becoming a much bolder person in every sense of the word. Insignificant heel choices led to more significant decisions like chopping my hair short for the first time, but risky fashion choices were just the beginning. I had stopped overanalyzing what other people were thinking of me- something with which I had always struggled. I started to realize that it’s okay to double-text someone or to make a joke to the girl sitting next to me that I don’t really know. I actually went to the gym and started running on the treadmills, which was something I’d always felt weird about because I’m not a good runner. The results were consistently positive. People complimented my fashion choices, friends appreciated the attention, the girl laughed at all my jokes, and I’m a way better runner now than I was three weeks ago.

I became an individual. Once I stopped analyzing what other people were thinking and I started making my own decisions, I became more confident in myself. At first it was scary because I didn’t know how people would react to the little things that I don’t normally do. Once I saw that they either didn’t notice, didn’t care, or reacted positively, I got in the groove of doing things outside of my comfort zone. It actually became fun to see what kinds of things I ended up doing. I also realized that while I was doing many of these things for myself, I ended up doing little acts of bravery for other people. I liked not being scared of what other people thought. I liked doing the things that I knew inside I should be doing. Acts of kindness go hand in hand with acts of bravery. Just have a nice little conversation with the kid that no one likes. Heck, have a nice little conversation with the kid that you don’t like! I guarantee that kid is going to appreciate it.

I challenge each of you. I challenge you to do one thing a day that scares you. I challenge you to not tell anybody about it because you will find that most of your little daily braveries aren’t really scary to anyone but you. Become an individual. Be brave. Let yourself shine.