“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
                                –Vincent van Gogh

I never felt that I was particularly brave.

However, I have been told on more than one occasion that my family and I were very brave to move to Canada and start a new life. In our late thirties. With two children.

Once we made up our mind that Canada was the place where we wanted to build a life for our kids and ourselves I never thought for a minute that it might not work out.

I was determined. I felt a passion and fire for possibilities I could not even name yet.

We arrived in Canada and I felt free. I belonged. I never looked back.

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Passion, determination and drive are feelings that I know very well. They have been with me all my life.

Some call it courage, but I just can’t imagine living any other way.

Those qualities of mine, there was a time when they seemed more like a curse.

My parents always said that I am a rebel. Because I stand up for what I believe in. To them it was not a good thing. Because it caused them trouble. It was not convenient.

So I spent many years trying to be mellow, live life under the radar, not causing any trouble.

Many unhappy years - because I was not living an authentic life.

“You get out of life what you have the courage to ask for” Oprah

There it is again, that courage thing. And I asked.

I asked for an authentic life - and that’s exactly what I got. I am in year five of living my best life, with all its ups and downs and sideways struggles. And I could not be happier.