How to be courageous in life? This is a difficult one, I think everyone has different levels of experiences that would determine their courage. But what a great quote we have here from Bob Marley! Which is especially close to my heart, being a fellow Leo and having just celebrated my 42nd birthday. It made me think about some of the many challenges throughout my life that have shaped my courage. I would like to share these with you as I believe each one has had an effect on me as I've grown and how I deal with situations, it has definitely made me stronger as a person, someone said to me “the difficult experiences you have shape who you are ! ”. Here are my highlights and how it has impacted my courage:
• Living without my parents at a very young age - I learned to fend for myself those few years being in India as a child.
• Migraines – I used to suffer as a child, stress or over tiredness triggered them. I learned to stay calm and focus on only doing what I could at the time.
• Catching Malaria from a work trip – this is still with me? I don’t really think about it, so I just live with what I have, it’s another string to my bow.
• Chrones disease – in my early twenties I was diagnosed and put on mounts of medication– I have had to change my diet to suit and now medication free! I gave up eating meat, it has made me eat healthier!
• Arthritis – a side effect from Chrones – this is in most of my joints - I realised it would take over when it was cold or when I was overtired. I try and keep the warmth nearby.
• Father passing – also in my early twenties- it has taught me to not take life for granted because life is too short.
• Losing a pregnancy – this happened twice, once at very early stages, but second was a very difficult situation - it was Ectopic, so as well as losing my future child, I had my fallopian tube removed. This scarred me physically and mentally. It made me realise I should just appreciate the 2 wonderful children I already have.
• Subarachnoid Brain Haemorrhage – this has to be the one that impacted the most, 4 operations later and having a shunt inserted in my brain. I still ploughed my way through what I didn’t understand was happening.
• Meningitis – catching this during my time in hospital – this infection can severely damage, but staying positive helped me through to clearance.
• Hair loss – side effect of the trauma experienced – I learned to see that all my appearance was just the wrapping and the person inside was what really mattered. It grew back!
• High Anxiety – my state of mental health is controlled by having regular therapy sessions and Neuropsychology that has helped me and my family in so many ways. I’m now a happier me!
Let’s all think about our experiences that have made us to be courageous and to stay positive in dealing with the situations. I’m doing a speaking event in Philadelphia this September for ‘The Bee Foundation’ Charity and their moto is to Bee Aware, Bee Courageous and Bee Happy. It is an amazing Charity and their mission is :
The mission of The Bee Foundation is to raise awareness of brain aneurysms and increase funding for innovative research that changes lives. We are building a robust and dynamic brain aneurysm research community with our Scientific Advisory Board, donors and network of researchers interested in grant funding to support meaningful research. Our community, anchored by our grant recipients, is committed to advancing brain aneurysm research. I
feel honoured to share my experiences to be able to help others. For more information on the Honey Bash Ball, please follow the link below: https://www.thebeefoundation.org/meet-honey-bash-guest-speaker-kavita-basi/ BEE COURAGEOUS ! Kavita Basi