Choosing Courage Over Comfort in Uncertain Times
Weekly Dose of Work Recovery Vol. 2.11.26
“Courage is choosing alignment over approval, even when it costs you comfort.”
To my new friends who’ve recently joined The Weekly Dose of Work Recovery—welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.
You’ve arrived in a season where many of us are tired in ways sleep doesn’t fix. Where the world feels loud, uncertain, and heavy. Where simply staying engaged, thoughtful, and awake takes effort.
This is a space for people who want to stay human inside all of that. And today, I want to talk about courage. Not the polished kind. The lived-in kind that is only fully understand after you've flexed it while totally and completely terrified.
For most of my life, I thought courage belonged to other people. The bold and fiery ones, the naturally audacious ones, the people who seemed unshakable in their sense of self. I assumed courage was a personality trait. Something you either had or didn’t.
But recent past experiences combined with new lessons from winter of ’26 is teaching me something different entirely.
Courage isn’t fearlessness. It’s feeling hella scared and moving anyway. It’s doubt filling my head but returning to the resolve in my bones. It’s knowing something matters enough to who I want to be to risk discomfort for it. And it's learning that I can always build more of it.
One of the ways I’ve practiced courage in recent years has been by speaking honestly about the things I care about—about work harm, community care, power, healing, and what people are carrying quietly.
And when you do that, you learn quickly that honesty has a cost. Some relationships shift. Some people pull away. Comfort disappears. There’ve been many moment where I wonder if courage over comfort as a life philosophy is worth it.
This same tension followed me to my TEDxDuluth experience. From the moment I said yes, I questioned whether I belonged. I wondered if I was qualified, if I was ready, if I was about to crash and burn spectacularly.
Along the way, obstacles kept appearing—logistical, emotional, personal, heavy. There were moments I wanted to quit. Moments when it felt like too much.
But I stayed.
Not because I felt confident.
But because I chose courage when the fear was nearly consuming.
And thankfully, over the past seven years, I've built bravery brick by brick so I had some reserves to draw on.
Your Courageous Lion In Waiting
I’ve come to believe there is a lion in each of us—a strength, a voice, a clarity that wants to be expressed. My courageous lion was what I relied on to make it to the TEDxDuluth stage.
Most of us keep our lion quiet because being visible feels risky and being honest feels vulnerable. But it doesn’t disappear. It waits.
Every time you pause instead of override yourself. Every time you honor a boundary. Every time you rest before collapse. Every time you tell your truth even if your voice shakes. Every time you choose your integrity over approval. You are training your nervous system for bravery and letting more of your lion out.
If you’re waiting to feel “ready” for a big, bold life let me gently tell you this: readiness is a myth. Action creates courage.
Confidence and courage is built, not discovered. Fear doesn’t vanish; but you learn to move with it in spite of fear's overwhelm.
That is courage.
And this is what we practice together here:
We recover so we can rise
We regulate so we can lead
We rest so we can speak more clearly
We heal so we can be bolder and love more
We do the quiet work so we’re ready and equipped for our most brave moments, knowing the courageous lion within us is always waiting.
Sincerely,
— Bree
P.S. If you’re carrying more than feels manageable right now, you’re not alone. If you'd like a way to meet this moment with steadiness, courage, and self-trust in community with other women, our four-part Leadership Lab series is designed for exactly this important work.
This week's did you know…A Wellness Recession Is Coming
As the cost of nearly everything continues to rise, people are looking more carefully at where their money goes and wellness is emerging as an area ripe for real change. The global wellness industry is now valued at $6.3 trillion, yet more people are waking up to the reality that much of what’s being sold as “self-care” is little more than clever marketing wrapped in soothing language.
From matcha lattes to trendy spa treatments, our wellbeing isn’t going to be saved by another product. What we’re actually longing for is a deeper connection to ourselves, to our nervous systems, and to one another.
In 2026, we’re craving new anchors. Not gurus. Not fake fixes. Not snake oil. Welcoming a rise to embodied wellbeing from the inside, out.
Source: The Wellness Recession Is Coming: Why Community Not Consumerism, Will Save Us, Pop Sugar
This Week on the Podcast
Ep. 121 Winter '26, Lesson Two: Courage Isn't Fearlessness -- It's Action
Stuff We Couldn’t Gatekeep
Leadership Lab: The Personal Leadership Paradox- A curated virtual space to build the clarity, resilience, & self-trust to lead with integrity in uncertain times. Learn More.
5 Women’s Health Myths Debunked by Doctors…Read more
Womens’ education gap widens as the gains by women in the workforce show mixed picture
