This past month, between flights to Toronto and back, flights to Chicago and back, and lots of downtime in between I’ve plowed my way through more books than I think I read in all of 2012. One phrase in one book caught my eye and has been playing in my head ever since.

The gist of the phrase (forgive me for not finding the exact quote, there really were quite a few books it could have come from) was this:

Being brave doesn’t mean you’re not afraid to do something. Being brave means you do something despite being afraid.

People all over the Internet (ok, fine, all over Facebook) are picking their word for 2013; one word that they hope will inspire and infuse their year with meaning.

In hindsight 2012’s word was clearly “recover.”

2013’s word came to me this morning as I quaked at the thought of all the goals I’m setting for myself this year.

I am petrified. And yet I’m going to push through.

2013, your word is Brave.

This year I vow to push through my fear and see my novel published.
This year I vow to push through my fear of leaving Blogger and to finally migrate this blog to WordPress so it can grow into the vision I’ve dreamed for it for the last year.
This year I vow to push through my fear and embrace the goals we’ve set for Splash Creative Media.
This year I vow to push through the fear that life will come swipe me off my feet whenever I start to make progress.
This year I vow to push through the fear that no one will be there to help me see my goals to fruition.
This year I vow to shush the voice that whispers in my ear to not even bother to try because there’s no way I won’t fail.

This year I vow to be brave.