There is something about this side of heaven that can add chains around our neck as we walk through seasons. Whether those chains are unidentified, or willfully added to your collection, they are heavy. We talk about anxiety and depression as a society now more than ever, but instead of addressing it in many cases, we wear it as a badge of honor and often an excuse to continue walking through life with the chains we have grown accustom to. We choose the familiar discomfort only because we don’t know there are other options worth taking.

“There is nothing more valuable than friends and family that love with intention.”

The world feeds the self-centered idea that you have a right to be happy, without mentioning the cost is often a loss of good character, conduct, and relationships. It’s no wonder people are struggling. We are all hardwired for connection, as researcher and Author Brene Brown breaks down, and those connections build us up. There is nothing more valuable than friends and family that love with intention. So how can we have a high self-worth and confidence if we don’t offer anything to our relationships? When we fixate on OUR rights and needs, we fail to see the needs of others, and connections are lost.

Where can authentic connection be found?

In my experience, it’s when I am called to be in the arena and share moments of suffering that my relationships are brought to life. Where we have to remove our discomfort from the equation so we can show up for the greater good of others. I believe these moments are divine opportunities for us to not only forge our relationships in the heat of battle, but to experience the intrinsic value of putting others needs before your own.

-Miriam Long

**If you feel called to be a partner and mentor in movement with the Dare to Move mentor program, OR you are in need of someone to encourage and help you fight the fall, please contact Miriam Long @ 360-761-8001 or Sarah McDuffy @ 253-561-4885