Do you feel like you’re in trouble now? Can you see your mom with her jaw tight giving you, “THE LOOK”? Speaking through clenched teeth real low and slow. Don’t. You. Dare…. Oh buddy, I dared a lot. Enough that this is still the image in my head when I hear the phrase. *shudders.* I think the phrase probably has a negative connotation for most of us. “Don’t you dare touch that”, “Don’t you dare leave this house”, or maybe even “Don’t you dare come back here”.

Isn’t it funny how some things just stick? It gets burned somewhere in your subconscious until you hear it again and its brought back to the forefront. It doesn’t have to be that way. I dare you.

I dare you to touch the thing. I dare you to say it until your lungs give out. I dare you to be yourself, whoever that may be. Ruffle the feathers, who gives a shit. And DON’T YOU DARE tell me you can’t. Don’t you dare tell me you’re not good enough/smart enough/strong enough. You are.

You are who you dare yourself to be. We always see the quotes and t-shirts and signs that say, “If you can be anything, be kind,” but what if, ” If you can be anything, be you”? Obviously, the world needs kindness too, but you are also what the world needs because you never know who is missing all the things you hold in yourself. If you aren’t you, how will others feel safe to be themselves? To me, the highest honor is to be a safe space for someone. To be so authentically me, that someone feels safe enough to be so authentically them. It’s something I strive for.

SO. Don’t you dare tell me you have nothing to offer because you do. I dare you to be YOU.

And I double dog dare you to have fun with it.