Courage

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." ― Anais Nin

What do you think of when you hear the word courage? The cowardly lion from the ‘Wizard of Oz?’  A medal of honor for a service person in the military? Someone who is brave and has stepped up and out in an exceptional way to do something extraordinary and rare?   Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines courage as, ‘ the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.’ While all of those can be examples of courage, the meaning of courage may be more subtle than that. The root of the courage comes from the Latin word meaning heart.  It used to refer to someone being able to ‘speak one’s mind by telling one’s heart.’  With that definition, courage could be described in a variety of ways. To ‘tell one’s heart’ can be told in the smallest of ways; to tell a person you like them for the first time, to set a new boundary with a loved one or co-worker or pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, even just an inch. (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_find_your_courage_during_challenging_times)

And though courage has been researched as quantifiable, (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2665714/), it does not have to be seen world wide.  It doesn’t even have to be known by your inner circle.  Courage is looking into one's heart, and following that without explanation or justification to others.  Courage is living authentically and in balance, despite the outside world pushing you to do differently.  And perhaps another angle to courage is to encourage.  When we see someone on the precipice of being scared and brave, we can encourage them to take the step that seems unknown and do it anyway.

What does courage look like for you?  Is it facing your fear of spiders? Is it having a difficult conversation?  Is it putting yourself out there to get off the couch and walk or move more? Is it applying for a new position or giving a presentation for the first time?

Courage and fear have a twisted and complicated relationship.  Fear is what can hold us back, but courage is having fear and doing it anyway.  And according to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, ‘...the best way to think of courage is to treat it as a muscle.  Some people are born with better muscles than others, but everyone can improve their muscles through training and practice.’ (https://hbr.org/2020/05/how-to-find-and-practice-courage) What would happen if you tried something you were afraid of?  Courage is not measured by the size of the outcome.  Courage is courage, no matter how ‘small.’  And it takes great effort to build courage and do courageous things.  Be brave.  Be curious and dip your toe on the other side of your fear into courage and see what happens.  You may find a whole new world of opportunity on the other side for you…!