She Used To Be Brave - A Story and a Song

 

She Used To Be Brave

She didn't want to move forward.

But she didn't want to go back either.

And staying exactly where she was felt impossible.

For the first time in her life, she found herself standing somewhere she couldn't explain, a place between decisions, between certainty and doubt, between the person she had been and the person she might become. It was a liminal space, though she didn't have a name for it at first.

She only knew she was there.

And somehow, the fact that she couldn't figure out why, bothered her more than the place itself.

The Woman Who Thought She Knew Herself

She had spent most of her life believing she had clarity. She made decisions. She moved forward. She faced things. She had always thought of herself as brave.

Or at least, she used to be.

So why was she standing here now, unable to take the next step?

She wished someone would simply tell her what to do. Just one person. One voice. Someone who could see what she couldn't.

Someone who might reach for her hand and say, Here. This is the way. Step through this door.

But no one came.

And perhaps that was the hardest part.

She began questioning everything.

Was she afraid?

Was she protecting herself?

Had she spent years protecting everyone else, convincing herself that was courage?

Maybe she had been confused for a very long time without realizing it. Maybe she had been lost without knowing she was lost.

That thought frightened her.

Because if she had been wrong about being lost, what else had she misunderstood about herself?

She had always known one thing for certain: she was hopeful.

Hope had carried her through difficult days. Hope had given her reasons to keep going when she couldn't see what was waiting ahead.

But now even that certainty began to trouble her.

Could Hope Be Keeping Her There?

She wondered if hope could become another kind of hiding.

Perhaps she had been holding onto hope so tightly that she had forgotten to reach for anything else.

Hope that something would change.

Hope that someone would appear.

Hope that eventually, the right door would simply open.

But what if it never did?

What if she had to choose one?

Forward or backward.

Stay or leave.

Fear or courage.

The questions circled endlessly through her mind, and still she couldn't find an answer.

Then she realized something she hadn't considered before.

Maybe being brave had never meant knowing exactly where to go.

Maybe bravery wasn't certainty.

Maybe it was standing in the middle of uncertainty and taking one step anyway.

She looked ahead.

Nothing had changed. The doors were still there. The path was still unclear.

No one had come to take her hand.

But for the first time, she didn't wait for someone to show her the way.

She took a breath.

And stepped toward the door.

Not because she knew what was on the other side.

But because she finally understood that she didn't have to know.

Perhaps that was the courage she had been searching for all along.

The courage to move without answers.

The courage to become someone new.

The courage to remember the woman she used to be and finally discover the woman she could still become.

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🎵 I write and produce story-driven lyrics. Vocals and music are digitally produced (I am not the singer). I digitally direct and arrange the video and recording.🎵 ©2026 DragedaPoemsLyrics (B.T.C) - All Rights Reserved - Original Lyrics Authored | Sound Recording: Produced With Digital Assistance (Vocals and Instrumental) 2026. Licensed digital composition (Commercial Rights Held). The visual artwork may include AI-assisted digital elements. SOCAN Member.