<strong><span style="color: #000000;">Live Fiercely</span></strong>

<span style="color: #000000;">If you are a client of mine, or attend a workshop, at some point you'll probably hear me talk about values. Growing up, I only learned about things like trust, honesty, respect, and mostly just being told to obey my parents and teachers. I was taught to not make waves, and do what I was told. </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">And I did. </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">And then I grew up.</span>

<strong>Being my own person</strong>

<span style="color: #000000;">I learned what it meant to be my own person. Through martial arts, I discovered a system of personal growth that put words to everything I felt inside me. In TaeKwonDo, there are tenets such as perseverance and indomitable spirit that captured the spirit of what I had been doing as a 24/7 single parent, raising my girls, working, going to school, and working toward a career. In martial arts, I worked toward belt ranks, learning different forms and board breaks. I pushed and persevered, kept going, kept getting up again, staying focused on my goals.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Failure was simply <em>not</em> an option. I told myself that every day.</span>

<strong><em><span style="color: #000000;">Prevail</span></em></strong>

<span style="color: #000000;">Now, I am inspired to sum up the fiery passion and persistence that has burned within me by saying, "Live fiercely". </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">To me, living fiercely means that I always find a way to accomplish something. I use intellect to gain perspective. I see options and weigh choices. I become aware of fear but use wisdom to reason with the fear. Living fiercely does not mean rushing blindly into foolish choices. It means pushing past the natural fear (which we all have) when I sense the unknown, and when I can't control the outcome. It means believing in myself, and in what my heart tells me to do. It means following my purpose in life. It means making the sacrifices to achieve my goals. It means acting boldly, making choices based on courage not fear. It means trusting myself that I will ALWAYS have indomitable spirit. </span>

<span style="color: #000000;">And so it is that I bid you to also "live fiercely".</span>

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<span style="color: #000000;">[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://dianazilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dianazilly.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]by Diana Zilly, MS, MA, LCPC, NBCFCH. Diana is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Fellow in Clinical Hypnotherapy, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Joliet Junior College. [/author_info] [/author]</span>