If I Dare....

I figure since I haven’t written in quite literally months, I should make an entire post about a song.  Because it makes sense that since no one has heard from me while I’ve been in the hole, people would want to hear about a song.  One song.

First of all, let me start by telling you about a bracelet.  Those of you who know me know that I have a ummm, minor bracelet obsession.  At any given time you might find me wearing 20+ bracelets at a time.  What can I say? I like a bracelet party.

A few years ago, my lifelong bestie got me a bracelet with the word, dare.

I thought it was really cool and somewhat almost edgy, the word dare.

But I didn’t think it actually applied to me.  I couldn’t really understand why she got it for me.  Well the reason is obvious NOW, our best friends, our people know us better than we know ourselves sometimes.  And sometimes, they can SEE us for ourselves when we can’t.

So I wore the dare bracelet and always felt a tinge of empowerment when I did.  Like, “What will I dare to do today?”  In the years of owning that bracelet, I haven’t really felt like I’ve dared to do anything, right?  Nothing "major" anyway.

Sara Barielles recently released a song for the movie, “Battle of the Sexes,” and that song is called, “If I Dare.”  And I have had it on repeat for a month.  It’s in my ears, it’s in my blood, it’s in the recesses of my brain now…. It’s the anthem of my life and the song playing to the movie reel in my mind.

I understand finally what the word dare really means and why Renae chose it for me.

Let me share a few of these lyrics.

“I don’t need permission to rise up when it hurts.”

“You don’t need to listen, but you’ll hear me, mark my words.”

“I am holding out for more than I have now.”

Renae knew back then that I was daring to see my life differently than what it was. 

I didn’t "just" get a divorce. “I dared to hold out for more than my life is now.”

I didn’t "just" go back to school. “I don’t build my cities with what could be taken back.”

I am holding out for more than what I have now.

I am holding out for more than what I have now.

I am holding out for more than what I have now.

If I dare to ask it, I dare it to be true.

I didn’t just dive into the world of dating for five years. “If I dare to risk it, then I know that I’m willing to.”

I didn’t get published in a book.  Nor am I currently writing THE book…. “I’m not deterred yet until I tell them all.”

So let me digress for a moment.  My life has been the big suck in recent months. I tell you this now because I think it’s important that women share their ugly.  My life is not unicorns and rainbows.  Neither is yours.  I will not pretend mine is.  You will never see me on Facebook painting a picture that’s not true.  If I don’t have anything nice to say on Facebook, I just stay off all together.  I simply can’t get into WHY my life has been the big suck but I can say this:  OH EM GEE.  Y’all.  For real.  I didn’t think I would come out of this one.  It. Was.  So.  Hard. 

But here’s the thing.  Every single day I wanted to hide or maybe even die because that seemed like a WAY easier option than survival, I made a choice.

To DARE.

I dared to believe that it would pass.
I dared to believe that I could get out of bed in the morning.
I dared to believe that I would survive the day.
I dared to believe that I might thrive again. 

"If I dare to want this, to want more than I have, then I dare to believe that I’ll have it in the end."

“You haven’t heard yet…. I’m not afraid to fall.”

OK so I was afraid.  But I dared anyway. 

“I don’t need your permission to rise up when it hurts.”

You guys, every day we wake up, every moment that we RISE, every moment we choose to make this day better than the last, we are daring. 

Sara B. wrote this song to tell the story of Billie Jean King, who dared to do BIG things and paved the way BIG TIME.  Maybe that’s you and maybe it isn’t.  Maybe what you’re daring to do is make the lives of those you touch better.  Or your own.  Daring doesn’t mean we are setting the world on fire or jumping out of airplanes or gambling what’s precious to us.  To DARE means to impact the world, YOUR world in the way that you know how.  In the way that the world needs ONLY YOU to. 

Just in case you didn't click above to hear it, CLICK HERE .

....and repeat.