How I Wrote Brave-ish: A Story of Courage, Loss, and TikTok
By Lisa Niver
Writing Brave-ish was both a deeply personal and unexpectedly impactful experience. What began as a reflection on my own journey—exploring courage, identity, and adventure—became a deeply cathartic process. Even if it had never been published, the act of writing it would have been enough for me. But once it reached the hands of readers, it took on another dimension.
The process of writing the book was not linear. Just before COVID, I found my developmental editor, and with her guidance, I had an outline—a map of what to do. When the pandemic hit, I initially thought I would use the two-week stay-at-home order to focus on writing. But then two weeks became a month, which turned into more, and before I knew it, I was home for over 400 days. Without travel, I focused my mental energy on sitting down to write, think, and process the horrible ending of my marriage. I worked to rebuild my broken heart, using this time to channel my emotions into my manuscript. My first chapter was written in my therapist’s office, setting the tone for a deeply introspective journey.
Throughout the process, I spoke with my developmental editor nearly every week and set daily writing goals to maintain momentum. I also worked with a book proposal coach, refining my vision for the book. Amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, I signed with an agent who loved my book and suggested a workshop about TikTok with other writers from his agency. I didn’t want to join or do the recommended challenge, but because he asked, I did—and it worked. A TikTok challenge for 30 days turned into five videos a day for 90, which ultimately helped me secure a publishing deal.
Since its release, the response from readers has been nothing short of humbling. Messages from people who found inspiration in my journey, who saw parallels in their own lives, or who felt encouraged to take their own leap of faith have made every challenging writing moment worthwhile.
Some readers connected deeply with the Jewish cultural and spiritual themes, while others appreciated the honest depiction of my travel, my issues with my eyes and my personal growth. One of the most surprising reactions has been from those who initially picked up the book for the travel stories but ended up reflecting on their own definitions of courage.
At events and book discussions, I’ve had the privilege of hearing firsthand how Brave-ish has impacted people. Some have shared their own stories of stepping into the unknown, whether through travel, career changes, or personal reinvention. Others have spoken about how the book challenged their perceptions of bravery—not as something grand or unattainable, but as a series of small, intentional choices that shape a life.
Ultimately, Brave-ish is a conversation, not just a memoir. The process of writing it taught me as much about myself as the reactions from readers continue to teach me about the universal longing for growth, connection, and the courage to embrace life fully.
EXCERPT from BRAVE-ish— my sky diving challenge:
The next morning, I woke up and waited until it was time to drive to GoJump Oceanside. When I arrived, they told me that due to the cloud cover, I would have to wait. During the two hours, I talked with my trained tandem instructor. My guide asked me about my project. I mentioned a few things before getting to scuba diving with bull sharks. He said, “I would never do that. I’m afraid of sharks.”
I was nearly unable to speak.
The man who flings himself regularly and for money as a job and changed his entire life to be able to train and continue to skydive is afraid of sharks.
I am not so afraid of sharks.
He continued, “How can you be scared of skydiving if you scuba with sharks?”
For the first time, it hit me in a new way that “brave” is relative. I’d always thought of bravery as a light switch—one or the other. You either had it turned on and you were brave and did things, or you were in the dark and you weren’t. As though being brave meant the same thing to all people. I realized “brave” is unique to each person. I wasn’t afraid to scuba with sharks anymore because I was well-trained and had experience. This guy might have once been afraid to jump, but now he loved it. Not everyone was afraid of biking, but I had been, so it was brave for me.
My mind was blown.
If I let fear win and never tried, my life would be smaller, but I only needed to accomplish my tasks to push myself, not everyone else’s. I wanted to grow and learn to approach new experiences with excitement instead of terror. It was one thing if something just wasn’t for me, but I didn’t want to be stuck. I didn’t want to not jump out of a plane only because I was afraid to.
BRAVISH: One Breakup, Six Continents, and Feeling Fearless After Fifty
Although Lisa Niver has traveled in far-off locales from Vanuatu to Nepal and received numerous accolades for both her writing and her top ranked website, what people don’t realize is that this began from the wreckage of a rotten romance.
Newlywed Niver was on the adventure of a lifetime. She had quit her job, rented out her condo, and was traveling around Asia. To the outside world, Niver was a woman living out her dreams of exploring ancient ruins in Cambodia and seeing orangutans in Borneo. In private, she was keeping a dark secret. But, when she found herself lying on a sidewalk in Thailand, looking up at the sky in severe pain, she knew things had to change. At age forty-seven, Niver found the courage to set course on a new life.
Feeling like a failure, pushing fifty, and moving home to her parents’ house to start again from scratch, Niver started taking one tiny “brave-ish” step at a time to take her life far away from the old one and into the adventurous world of travel writing. These small hurdles led to the challenge of trying fifty new things before turning fifty. From diving into shipwrecks, swimming with sharks, bobsledding at 3 Gs, to indulging in wild escapades, Niver found herself traversing the world on a journey of reinvention, personal growth, and discovering what it actually means to be “brave.”
While Brave-ish chronicles Niver’s inspiring expeditions to distant corners of the world including Myanmar, Cuba, Morocco, Kenya and Mongolia this is more than a travelogue. Niver’s story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of perseverance. Brave-ish inspires readers to dream big, take risks, and embrace the unknown to create a life filled with wonder and excitement, even when courage seems elusive.
https://lisaniver.com/braveish/
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Lisa Niver is an award-winning author, travel journalist and international speaker who has explored 102 countries on all seven continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel.
On her award-winning global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded five Southern California Journalism Awards and four National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist thirty-five times.
Named a top travel influencer, Niver talks travel on broadcast television, her YouTube channel with over 2.5 million views, and in her award-winning memoir, Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty. She also inspires wanderlust seekers worldwide to share their adventures in her Udemy class, Travel Writer 101.
AWARDS FOR BRAVE-ish
2025 International Impact Book Awards—Travel
2024 Gold Medal – Inspirational – North American Book Awards
2024 Gold Bookfest Award – Nonfiction Memoir Travel
2024 Gold Nonfiction Book Award – Nonfiction Authors Association
2024 Literary Titan Gold Book Award – Non-fiction
2024 Silver Bookfest Award – Nonfiction Self-Help Inspiration
2024 Readers’ Favorite Honorable Mention – Non-Fiction – Women’s Genre
2023 Hearten Book Awards First Place Winner – Inspiring & Uplifting Non-Fiction
2023 Zibby Awards Runner-up – Best Book for The Strong Woman
2023 Goody Business Book Awards Winner – Memoir/Self-Help
Featured in Conde Nast Traveler Women Who Travel Book Club: 10 New Books We Can’t Wait to Read this Fall
As seen in Forbes Best New NonFiction
Category: Contemporary Women Writers
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