Brave has been on my mind a lot lately.

And not just because Sara Bareilles performed it live on The Voice last week – although that helps.

I can relate to this song so deeply.  That comes across as a little trite, but it’s true.  The lyrics really spoke to me the first time I listened to them.  This dragging, damaging divorce has been draining me dry, and I realized that one of the biggest reasons I’m so exhausted, is because I am SO TIRED of explaining and explaining and explaining all of the things that I’d kept so silent and hidden for so many years.

I know it’s time to be brave.  That can be hard, though.  Especially when my lawyer tells me not to post anything at all on social media, and I find myself sitting there, signed into Facebook, and chanting in my head, “Don’t vent on Facebook.  Don’t vent on Facebook. Don’t vent on Facebook. Don’t vent on Facebook. Don’t vent on Facebook…”

And the video itself?

I thought it was awesome the first time I saw it.  After all, before I’d even seen the video, I was the one walking around Kmart, listening to the song play over the speakers while singing along and dancing as I walked down the aisles.

Hell – I am the video!

And I love the spirit in the video.  The genuine passion in the dancers.  Even the dude a little lacking in rhythm – there is a loveliness to it.  An excitement.

A happiness.

Because life is beautiful.  So be brave.  Dance.

Dance on top of all the shit and show the world that it won’t hold you down.

Just like the old ladies that join the dancing.  They say wisdom comes with age, and it’s the eldest of the impromptu audiences that really get into it.  They know how to dance.  How to brush off the world and everything and just dance.

That’s how I want to be.  Like this awesome lady: