{"id":16270,"date":"2016-08-04T08:47:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T13:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/?p=16270"},"modified":"2016-08-04T10:06:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T15:06:34","slug":"on-bikinis-business-and-being-brave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/on-bikinis-business-and-being-brave\/","title":{"rendered":"On bikinis, business and being brave"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week I&#8217;m attempting to be on a family vacation in the Texas Hill Country. (You can follow some of our adventures on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/amy_c_gross\/\">Instagram<\/a>, if you&#8217;d like.) I say attempting because I&#8217;m also a tech CEO working her tail off to get my <a href=\"http:\/\/vinesleuth.com\">startup<\/a> &nbsp;well into our next chapter, and that doesn&#8217;t really allow for days without some sort of work. But I&#8217;m sure trying.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week I began reading <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anniefdowns.com\">Annie F. Downs&#8217; <\/a>book, &#8220;Let&#8217;s all be Brave,&#8221; while lounging at the pool. (Thanks, Donna, for the suggestion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/img_5948.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/img_5948.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2448\" height=\"2448\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16269\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/img_5948.jpg 2448w, http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/img_5948-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/img_5948-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/img_5948-640x640.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2448px) 100vw, 2448px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nI&#8217;ve never thought of myself as being brave at all, but reading this book caused me to think about things in a new light and I was almost brought to tears a number of times, recalling my startup journey and how, well, <i>brave<\/i>, I really must be.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A few scary\/ brave things I&#8217;ve done or am doing that came to mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Launch a business to solve a problem I didn&#8217;t want to face anymore, knowing I wasn&#8217;t the only one frustrated, even though that meant a major change to my life as a stay at home mom and diving into deep waters in areas I needed to learn? <b>Check<\/b>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Go to events where I don&#8217;t know a soul and mingle to make the right business connections and have a good time? <b>Check<\/b>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Speak in front of 14,000 people live about my business? <b>Check<\/b>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Fly to foreign countries alone where I speak very little or none of that country&#8217;s native language and pitch my business? <b>Check<\/b>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Parenting teenagers. <b>Working on it.&nbsp;<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yep, I&#8217;ve done those things. I just did them. I&#8217;m still doing them. In each one, and many others as I look back, I never saw myself as brave, just pushing on with what needed to be done.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As I read Annie&#8217;s book at the pool, I started to think of other things, too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I was reading while wearing a bikini.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m 44, y&#8217;all. I have carried and delivered 3 babies. I have been a Weight Watchers success and am now currently NOT a Weight Watchers success. Launching a startup in wine has put at least 20 pounds on me. (Aside from the travel and, well, wine, I can&#8217;t be expected to sample all that wine with salad alone. There&#8217;s cheese and jamon and pasta and prosciutto and bread, gorgeous bread, and so much other deliciousness!)<\/p>\n<p>So, before the trip, my husband bought me a few vacation clothes, including a bikini. And it actually fit. And I thought about the fact that if my HUSBAND thinks I look good in a bikini, shouldn&#8217;t I honor that and take HIS perspective into account?<\/p>\n<p>I look in the mirror and see flaws. He looks at me and sees the woman he loves. Shouldn&#8217;t that be more than enough? Isn&#8217;t he the only one at the pool that I should be concerned about aside, maybe, from my own thoughts which we all know are going to be more critical than anyone else&#8217;s?<\/p>\n<p>And so I wore that bikini to the pool and read a book about bravery. And didn&#8217;t even make the connection at the time. But you know what, I&#8217;m going to put that in the bravery column.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, while in the San Marcos River, I learned what a wimp I am when it comes to the power of rushing water and the possibility of smashing into boulders underwater or slipping on slimy rocks. My kids cheered me on, though. My 14-year-old even held my hand to guide me a few times. So see, I&#8217;m not all that brave.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But I sure try. We&#8217;ve got to try.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week I&#8217;m attempting to be on a family vacation in the Texas Hill Country. (You can follow some of our adventures on Instagram, if you&#8217;d like.) I say attempting because I&#8217;m also a tech CEO working her tail off to get my startup &nbsp;well into our next chapter, and that doesn&#8217;t really allow for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[438,365,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal","category-inspiration-joy","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16270"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16278,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16270\/revisions\/16278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.momstoolbox.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}