“You may not have signed up for a hero’s journey, 
but the second you fell down, got your butt kicked, suffered a disappointment, screwed up, or felt your heart break, it started. It doesn’t matter whether we are ready for an emotional adventure—hurt happens. And it happens to every single one of us. Without exception.
The only decision we get to make is what role we’ll play in our own lives: Do we want to write the story, or do we want to hand that power over to someone els
e? I now see that owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do. Choosing to write our own story means getting uncomfortable; it’s choosing courage over comfort.
Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them. 
We can choose courage, or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we’ll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. Someone, somewhere, will
say, ‘Don’t do it. You don’t have what it takes to survive the wilderness.’ This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, ‘I am the wilderness.’
When we combine the courage to make clear what works for us and what doesn’t with the compassion to assume people are doing their best, our lives change.”
Brene Brown
