Living Brave
Life throws us many curve balls. Why some of us have to duck, dodge, and deal with far more than others is a mystery. How does one stay hopeful? Resilient? Happy, even?
Shannon Dingle, writer and disability advocate, helps us to understand in her new book, “Living Brave.”
She knows a thing or two about survival in times of trauma and upheaval, and has learned how to embrace the preciousness of life amid it all.
After surviving sexual abuse and trafficking as a child, Shannon was left with lasting disabilities. And yet she rose. She blossomed. She thrived. She married and became a mom - six times over. Life was good. And then it wasn’t. A rogue wave hit her husband while their family was on vacation tragically ending his life, leaving her a widowed mother of 6, deep in grief.
“The grief of the aftermath of losing her love and life partner sits at the heart of Living Brave, where Shannon’s searing, raw prose, illustrates what it looks like to take brave steps on the other side of unimaginable loss.
Through each challenge, she reveals the ways she learned to walk through them to the other side, and find courage even through the darkest moments. Living Brave gives women permission to wrestle with difficult topics, to use their voice, to take a stand for justice, to honor the wisdom of their bodies, and to enact change from a place of strong faith.”
This is a book anyone who has ever wondered “How do I get through this?” needs. Which means it’s a book we ALL need. To live, it is said, is to love. It is also to experience loss and pain. For some, like Shannon, there are other elements, abuse, trauma, and disability.
