Gutsy girls skateboard, climb trees, clamber around, fall down, scrape their knees, get right back up — and grow up to be BRAVE WOMEN.  Learn how to spark a little productive risk-taking and raise confident girls with stories and advice from firefighter, paraglider and all-around adventurer Caroline Paul.

If you are raising daughters, mentoring young girls or need to be a braver woman… WATCH THIS: 

I just spent the most magical two weeks in California (another blog to come later) and my younger sister, Natalie and I sat on the beach one gorgeous evening reminiscing about our tomboy upbringing. Can I just tell you how grateful I am that our parents embraced ALL the multifaceted sides of our personalities?!? We were pretty, but brave little tomboys who had to wear shorts underneath our dresses on Sunday because we would not let a dress stop us from the chance to climb the monkey bars or race that little boy across the church parking lot.

One day we wanted to…

go muddin’ in the ditches,

learn piano the next,

climb trees after that,

race bicycles up and down the street,

play basketball,

try out for cheerleader,

perform all the songs to Grease for the family,

go on mission trips,

summer camp,

swim in the horse trough,

build a Barbie city that covered my entire bedroom floor,

my bad New Waver phase and Flock of Seagulls haircut, (Lawdy, Lawd!!)

beauty pageants, (then with my Belinda Carlisle haircut)

and on and on and on.

Back then there were no screens to consume our time except for the television screen. We didn’t care much about TV except for watching reruns of Happy Days, Three’s Company, and Good Times. Oh wait, I did love American Bandstand on Saturday mornings. Anyone else?  We loved playing outside! We loved getting sweaty! We loved sports! We truly thought we could do everything the boys did. Although, I did hate it when my dad made us help with the yard work! But, even that toughen us up and taught us not be afraid to use our hands and get a bit dirty. I never realized- until I saw the above TED Talk by Caroline Paul this morning- that all of that freedom to express our “gutsiness” would make such a huge difference in our life as women.

Thank you mom and dad for allowing us to be little adventurous explorers.

Natalie went all over the world as a teenager doing mission work and almost won Survivor: Micronesia in 2008. Not as adventurous, but still gutsy- I began modeling internationally at 17. I climbed down a Bavarian alp and rode a mountain bike from Germany to Austria. (Talk about an achy bootie…think about doing spin class for 8 hours! OUCH!) Flew on an Ultralight, which is basically a go cart with flimsy canvas wings, in Mexico. Slept in a rat infested cabin in Southern Sudan. Drove a Lamborghini up the PCH and got it to 160 MPH. Yeehaw! I should have been Danica Patrick. Just sayin’. Snorkeled off the coast of Africa in the Seychelle Islands and the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Belize. Sang karaoke in Rappongi, the nightlight district of Tokyo. Lived in Milan, Italy for a Summer and rode a 10-speed to all my castings so I could see the city instead of being underground in the subway. Flown in a helicopter over the Great Ocean Road. Heck, moving to LA where I knew no one, took guts and independence.  Seriously, driving around LA the past 2 weeks is gutsy. It’s like a bunch of ants texting while their trying to drive. Now I remember why my adrenal glands were shot from living there. Whew! #RoadRageOnCrack

Has life dulled your gutsiness? Life can make us fearful. I get it. Life can make us whimpy. I get it. Especially, the world we’re living in today, but SCREW THAT! Today, more than ever, we need to raise brave girls and be examples of brave women for them. The conversation with my sister sitting on the beach last week, then stumbling across this TED Talk was no coincidence. I’m here to encourage you to remember how brave you are. I love the ripple effect we can cause for good.

• Take a moment to reminisce on all the gutsy things you’ve done throughout your life. This will build confidence.
• If you chickened out on many things you wished you had done, start a list.
• Get busy being braver than ever and get out there. Check off the list. I want to hear about it!

We become more brave by exercising our bravery. I don’t think I’ve ever made a list of all the cool and somewhat crazy things I’ve done in my life. My confidence and bravery is officially built up and sharpened. Never let anyone or anything, especially yourself, dull your gutsy, girlfriend. 

Love to hear your thoughts or a specific gutsy moment you had. 

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