I can’t believe my little act of courage affected so many people!

“I thought this was just my personal battle with confidence and self-esteem but my brave moment of self-care turned out to benefit everyone!”

Angela’s company is retrenching staff.

She’s known about it for a while so she’s had time to wrap her head around it and figure out some of her plans. She’s really worried because she needs three months’ pay in order to feel safe enough to put her plans in place – but the company only owes her three weeks’. To her relief, they have just very generously announced that they will pay everyone two months’ salary.

We are discussing the termination meeting she’s about to have with management.

“I still want to ask them for three months’ severance pay but I don’t know if I have the courage to do it!” she wails in distress. “I’m not confident about asking for what I need. It’s totally scary.”

On the other hand, she’s not sure she can afford not to. She has a mortgage, a pet, and no family or partner to financially fall back on.

“I guess the worst they can say is no and tell me I’ve been a terrible employee. I don’t know if I’ll survive that!”

Stuck between a rock and hard place Angela decides that she wants to try. She knows that if she can speak out calmly and express herself clearly while asking for what she needs, it will be a huge victory for her life and her relationship with herself – regardless of how they respond.

Clutching tightly to her intention to be brave and honor herself and leaning heavily on her faith, she goes into the meeting and manages to clearly say what she wants and needs.

Management listens and tells her they’ll consider her request.

Angela comes out of the meeting elated! “I did it! I spoke out and had the confidence to ask for what I needed. I looked after myself!”

She’s so excited about her victory – and she doesn’t know what’s about to happen next.

The following day her company informs her that they have decided to pay everyone three months’ salary.

What?!

Her little internal act of courage, which took all she had, and was a deliberate act of self-care, ended up benefitting everyone who was being retrenched.

When she told me what had happened I asked her permission to share her inspiring story with you – because we need stories like these to help us take our own courageous actions, don’t we?

When we follow our own inner Truth, and we have the courage to look after our needs even when it looks ‘rude’ or ‘cheeky’ to do so, it benefits everyone in some way. In this case, the benefit for a whole lot of people is something Angela can always know she played a huge part in.

Whenever you aren’t sure what to do, pause, acknowledge your situation, and ask yourself,

“If I loved myself, what would I choose to do now?”

“If I had no fear, what would I choose to do now?”

Then listen for the quiet inner reply that emerges within you and feels good and right to you.

When you take your actions from that heart-led guidance, it tends to be good for the collective too.

To find out how to use these questions to help you take the brave actions you wish you could, read the book If You Loved Yourself, What Would You Do Now? Or go to www.ifilovedmyself.com