November 2: Find a quotation and use it as an inspiration.
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” –Mary Anne Radmacher
Over the time that Madeline has had T1D, she has struggled with how she feels about having this disease. A recurring theme relates to courage: her belief, quite simply, is this: She has no courage. She is not brave.
Nothing could be further from the truth, of course.
Somehow, she mistakenly learned that courage and bravery equate to an absence of fear. So I’ve sought opportunities, as they occur in the natural course of daily life, to teach her the real meaning of courage and bravery. We’ve talked about times when she’s done something in spite of fear: learning how to dive from the dock in swimming lessons, telling a peer to stop telling her she’s ugly, playing upstairs in her room alone, telling a teacher when she thought her friend was being bullied. We’ve talked about the courage and bravery her grandmother shone as she lived with and then died from cancer. Many, many examples like these have graced our conversations.
Despite these efforts, though, Madeline has continued to dispute evidence of courage and bravery in her own life. No, Mommy. I was afraid. So I can’t have courage.
Then one day a few weeks ago, she brought home a pile of work and projects from school. In looking through it, I found this:
She illustrated a recent visit to the endocrinologist, during which she had to have blood drawn for annual tests. For one moment, Madeline recognized the the glimmer of courage within her. And she sought to convey it to the world.