Think of your favorite fictionalized heroine. Heck, think of any fictionalized heroine. From Rose Sayer in the African Queen (played by Katherine Hepburn) deciding after her brother dies to commandeer a supply boat and use it to sink a German Military ship impeding a British rescue.
To Penny Tweedy in Secretariat taking over her family’s stables after her father becomes ill and deciding one fateful evening to go with her gut, defying all of the men around her and pick the “lesser” foal from a breeding.
Despite the odds & circumstances we always see our heroes as up to the task. We believe in them DESPITE their circumstances. We cheer for them knowing ultimately they will win.
“Despite the odds & circumstances we always see our heroes as up to the task. We believe in them DESPITE their circumstances. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do that for ourselves?"
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do that for ourselves as well? We often think heroines are just born different, made of tougher, more sparkly stuff than the rest of us. But heroine stories teach us the opposite is true: heroines are born from necessity.
They’re born from trying circumstances and a community that needs their heroism more than ever. And the great thing about the female heroes among us? They always bring people up with them.
Becoming the heroine to our own stories is as simple as deciding to become her. And that starts with a story reframe. Ask yourself who is the community you serve and how do they need your best self?
For Penny Tweedy it was her teenager daughter. She needed to show her just how strong and powerful a woman could be. For Rose Sayer it was the villagers she had come to live who needed her bravery as they were being carted off to work camps by Germans.
Who do you love? And how could your acts of bravery and risk taking be necessary for them? We often willing to go farther and do more for the ones we live then we could ever imagine doing for ourselves alone. Use that to your advantage.