Take the bull by the horns

I am the head of my household and I juggle at least three jobs.
I left one of my jobs this week mostly because I couldn't keep my mouth shut and I was tired of fighting.
One of my social work interns at that agency wrote me a goodbye letter.
He said, “You always seem to have a 'grab the bulls by the horn' kind of attitude, an attitude that is on behalf of your clients and the community.”

I looked up the meaning of that idiom, “taking the bull by the horns,” and found:
• To deal with a difficult situation in a very direct way.
• To approach, confront, or deal with a problem or difficult situation directly and with clear, confident action.
• To confront a problem head-on and deal with it openly.

The origin of the idiom, “grab the bull by the horns” probably comes from “the American West where it was a common, but dangerous, practice to wrestle with steers – a part of the everyday working life of ranchers and cowhands throughout the west. To control a bull or a steer (a young bull) the cowhand would first have to catch it. Trying to grab the neck or legs of a dangerous creature like this was not an option. The only solution was to take a deep breath and face the problem directly by grabbing the bull by the horns and then pulling it to the ground. This expression now means to confront a problem directly without ‘beating about the bush.’”
Tim Bowen, “Phrase of the week: to take the bull by the horns,” onestopenglish.com.

This all reminds me of my mom.
Irene Acuña Cardona was from Chihuahua, Mexico.
Growing up I watched her stand up for herself everywhere we went.
I watched her flirt and win people over too.
When she pushed back, I remember feeling embarrassed because I thought she was being rude. Privately, I told her that. She said, “No soy ruda, soy franca.”
It is well known that “La gente de Chihuahua es franca y sincera.”

I don’t know if my mom ever faced a real live bull in Chihuahua but I know exactly what she would have done if she did.