My Experience Of How To Became Brave & Self-confident

Ever since I was a little kid my mother would tell me to be strong and not let anyone pick on me. "Se valiente." she would say to me or in other words, "Be brave."It was something i always remembered but didn't really take into account because i was always shy growing up and lacked courage. Little did i know that my small clashes with bullies in school would never prepare me for the biggest bully that was lurking in my own family.

It was Summer and i had just got out of high school, i had to look for a job. My cousin Richard worked with my uncle Otto and they were in charge of a moving company, they were movers and i had worked with them a few times before. My cousin Richard would pick on me when we I was very young but I didn't think nothing of it because we were grown by now i was 18 and he was 23. It was until i would consistently work with them through long hard days of work that my courage would be tested greatly. We would be working and things would get frustrating most of the time so id joke around to lighten up the mood. In response my cousin would say, "If you smile again, I'm going to break your teeth." I would put up with harsh comments like that almost everyday but i knew in the back of my mind that it would only escalate. My dignity was at war with my mind i knew i had to stand up to him or i would always be perceived as weak and he would puff himself up even more.

But Family is supposed to be united, that notion would soon be erased from my moral beliefs and change my perspective of life forever. My uncle would leave Richard in charge of the truck, me and another helper at times and he wouldn't come to work, This is where Richard felt comfortable to insult and treat me like trash. I was frustrated and i talked back to him but he would try to intimidate me saying "I'm going to mess you up." but he obviously didn't say mess. He would slam things with violence and then give me a threatening stare which was very weird but with malicious intent. I had enough i thought to myself i went up to him and told him to his face "You can try to intimidate me all you want, I'm not scared of you." My heart was racing and my adrenaline was pumping. I could see the shock in his eyes as he didn't expect this from me the kid that was significantly smaller than him and that he bullied all summer. It only takes an ounce of courage to unmask the cowards that pretend to be.

Ever since that day I was determined to always stand up to someone who intended to hurt me emotionally or physically. I learned that courage could completely do a 180 on my life when used in my favor according to the right principles. The old me disappeared that day and I'm glad because now I feel like the bravest guy in the world!