11- Katrina Smith: How to loose your bravery

                        photo I took on the edge of a cliff at 13 yrs

As a child I was often described as brave. I believe this could've been for multiple reasons. First, I took risks, you could often find 4 foot tall me in a tree or on top of a roof. Second, fearlessness. I wasn't afraid of many things and could easily walk through a haunted house without any spooks. Lastly I was confident, I could care less about what people would think of the cat ears I wore to school everyday. 

Growing older it feels like I lost some of this bravery, and others may feel the same. It's important to note that as you grow older, your world gets bigger. What you once thought were “big kid” privileges are suddenly in the palm of your hand. It's not that you’re any less brave, it's that the obstacles we face and things that made us brave as children are upped in scale by 10 times. 

Risk taking as a kid isn't too difficult, ride a bike, send an invitation to a birthday party, eat 9 slices of pizza. Risk taking as a young adult is on a larger scale. Moving abroad, going to a restaurant alone, applying for a job, meeting new people. When you grow up you realize there's more things to be afraid of, and it's not just big spiders and sharks. You can be afraid of going into debt, losing a job, losing a loved one, failing an important exam. And lastly, your confidence can decline, it’s no longer not caring what people think of your silly laugh, but insecurities that can run deep and affect you long term. 

Growing up means the trees we climb are bigger, the haunted houses of life are longer and scarier, and the cat ears are… not sure about that one. Though the challenges we reach as young adults are bigger and more important in comparison to the ones we met as a child, we are also bigger. Not just physically, but we are mentally stronger. The things we went through as a child shaped who we become, and all of the good stuff and the bad stuff made us the way we are. You are not any less brave now that you’ve grown up, it's just that priorities are different, and it will take some getting used to. 

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