To being brave

How do you say goodbye to the comfort of your family? To the city you grew up in? To the people you’ve learned to love? Tell me how do you say goodbye to the friends who became your family? To the friends you wish to get to know more but never had the chance?

How do you even say goodbye to a dog who quietly listened to all your drama? To the pillows who have heard your silent cries? To the safety blanket who saved you from all the thunderstorms? How do you say goodbye to the life you are too familiar throughout the years?

They say people leave because they were never meant to stay in your life. But what if, it was you who left? Does it mean that you’re never meant to stay in theirs? Tell me. Tell me, how do you start a life in an unfamiliar area knowing no one? Tell me, how do you show yourself in a world where you can easily hide in the shadows? Tell me where do I begin in making a new life, a new home away from home?

The thought of starting over from scratch, from out of nothing, to make a life out of it sounds exhausting but challenging; while the people you leave behind carry on with their lives without you. Before you know it, you’ll just be a part of a memory. You will just be an ‘I used to know a good friend’ and ‘That reminds of this person.’ You will stay in between conversations, catching up and reminiscing, but will never really be a part in any of it.

The reality that you are no longer a part of their lives will slowly linger. The thought that you will no longer be around to witness their happiness, their success, to be the shoulder they can cry on in every heartbreak and failure, no longer there to hold nor lend a helping hand even when unnecessary will hover in the air like a ghost. But they will never know what you’d feel either. No one to witness your “new firsts”. Success and failures. No one to hold you when you cry yourself to sleep throughout the struggles. No one to hold or lend you a hand when you need it most.

Someone once said that bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death. That’s true. Bravery is being courageous enough to do all the things that scares the living hell out of you, to pursue dreams even when people say you can’t do it, and to believe that nothing that could be and will ever be certain. Bravery, though, will be your fuel to do great things; huge things throughout the transition.

Taking the big step, moving abroad, is already a huge accomplishment. Starting a new life in another country where you can’t speak nor understand anything is another accomplishment. You do everything and anything to reach your dream. And I guess you do a lot of crazy things along the way if you want to want to get there. That’s bravery.

Bravery will help you surpass all the anxiety in preparing, during and after your transition. Bravery will fuel your passion to help you achieve your dream. Bravery will always be there for you when no one else will. And even if you won’t realize it, bravery will also be the one to hold you tight when you bid your final goodbye as you cry a river of tears at the airport. Bravery will be your companion as you watch your hometown probably for the last time. Bravery will be your guide as you get home to your new home. Bravery will be your best friend even way past after you have reached your dreams.

Bravery will always be there every step of your journey. And for all your disappointments and frustrations, bravery is that little voice that will tell you to keep your chin up for tomorrow is another day.

❤️