#4 Brave Soul

Transcript:You’re listening to mornings with Mary where I share everyday thoughts about everyday things before my second cup of coffee. [[coffee machine noise]] I’m currently nearing the end of a very lightly renovating our guest bathroom. The bathroom has this classic 70s blue shower/tub combo, a bit of blue tile, and a matching blue toilet. I love fun moments like that and historical decor, so I decided to lean really hard into the 70s. I’ve brought back some of the stained wood accents and decided to paint the walls a more classic pink color. My partner’s parents have been following along in our group chat and none of my choices have gotten much of a response except for choosing pink paint. His mom said, and I quote, “You’re a brave soul and it will probably look great when it’s done. I always go with the lightest color on the paint strip choices. I was both amused and kind of shocked by this response. Brave. Brave for picking something that perfectly fits the theme. And a brave soul, no less. This kind of feels like when you’re rewarded for restarting a router or a computer, getting praised for something kind of boring is almost insulting. We tend to reserve bravery for things like knights and firefighters, but what if we stop diminishing our own? Just because something feels easy to us doesn’t mean it looks easy to everyone else. Bravery might just be what confidence looks like to someone who doesn’t have it yet, but then again, maybe she really just doesn’t like pink. [[coffee machine beeping]] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mhonline.substack.com