Brave Enough To Be Bliss

support or oppose. And when we acknowledge that fear is the driver, we can settle our brains long enough to listen for understanding instead of simply reacting in fear.

"Fearless" Book Trailer by Eric Blehm // Story of SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown - YouTube

“In this life we cannot always do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

What do you call people who jump in between you and someone who is trying to kill you? Heroes.

What do you call people who willingly enter the military, risk their lives for your country and all of its citizens, see atrocities you can’t even imagine, and come home with PTSD, and the only way they know how to survive the memories are by drowning the pain of what they saw in alcohol or drugs? Drunks or addicts. In both cases, they risked their lives to save yours. The hero with PTSD needs help, but he is still a hero and should be treated as such. We owe him the respect heroes deserve, as well as our love, care and concern for his mental health condition that came as a result of his heroism. Yes, he will need to learn to accept help, but treating him with a hero’s respect and love, care, and concern as a human being instead of disdain, has a much better chance of helping him feel worthy of living. And if he feels worthy of living, he might actually be encouraged to reach out for or receive help. If you felt worthless, why would you do the hard work to save yourself? You can’t save yourself when you think you don’t mean anything, won’t amount to anything, and are somebody no one wants. An outcast, dirty, and broken, unworthy of a life worth living. That is a devastating place to get out of that requires love, kindness, and compassion, not disgust, irritation and impatience. Life…is…hard , loving someone in the miliary is hard, and serving in the military is hard, especially when a person’s physical or mental health, body parts or lives are at risk. It is tough stuff to give yourself, to risk your life, in service of others. Please watch this video and don’t just hear the words of the song, feel them, and then remember them on a daily basis as you enjoy the freedoms you have. And let that move you to support and offer your respect to those who willingly defend or have defended you and all in this country. In my leadership career, I have encountered of a variety of organizational employee issues I never would have guessed would happen. But in organizations with thousands of employees, that’s a lot of human s with a lot of life history and life challenges, so it’s really to be expected. The hurts that led to me to learn about the following employee story began years earlier during the military portion of this person’s career , which is why I ’ m sharing it in this chapter. I have enjoyed hearing about the leadership work Simon Sinek has done with the military. There is no organization on the earth that operates without human involvement and for that reason, all organizations will have strengths and challenges because those humans are, well, human. When we invest in leadership and employee development, we not only improve the health of our organizations, but also the health of their families, communities, and ultimately this world. One of the areas I’ve overseen is marketing and communications, and social media accounts fall under that area. One weekend, I received a message from someone outside the organization who shared a screenshot from an employee who had forwarded a photo that included a discriminatory comment. The employee’s account Justin Moore - The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home (youtube.com) “Fear grows out of the things we think; it lives in our minds. Compassion grows out of the things we are, and lives in our hearts.” Barbara Garrison

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