Courage in 2025: A Journey of Truth, Imagination, Community, and Self

Courage Chose Me
There are moments in life that don’t announce themselves as turning points. They slip in quietly — like a draft under a door, or a whisper you almost mistake for your own breath. For me, courage arrived on a gray December morning in Cleveland.
I was sitting, staring a wall and going over a list of words, in my head, I thought I wanted to describe 2025--mostly foul ones.  Not beautiful words. Safe words. But courage kept tapping me on the shoulder. And the truth is: I didn’t want it. I wanted anger and fire for a year that tore me. But courage isn’t a word you choose. Courage is a word that chooses you.
And when it chose me, it didn’t ask whether I felt ready. It asked whether I was willing to stop shrinking. Whether I was willing to tell the truth. Whether I was willing to imagine a life that felt bigger than the one I’d been tolerating.
This year, courage has shown up in three places:
1. Truth-Telling
The moment I finally said the thing I’d been avoiding — my voice shaking, my hands trembling — and the world didn’t end. It opened.
2. Imagination
The kids drawing purple forests and floating houses on the sidewalk reminded me: movements begin with imagination. Liberation begins with imagination.
And then there was community — the young person who said, “I’m scared, but I don’t want fear to decide who I become,” and shifted the entire room. Courage is contagious. We take turns being brave.
Lately, I’ve been asking myself one question every morning:
What would I choose if I wasn’t afraid of disappointing anyone?
This question has rearranged me.
It has clarified my boundaries.
It has expanded my imagination.
Courage is not the absence of fear.
Courage is the presence of self.
And I’m choosing to follow it.
If you’re ready to explore courage in your own life — in truth, in imagination, in community — I invite you to listen to the full episode.
Courage is calling. And you are ready.