When we encounter people who are brave or courageous, it’s easy to think they are somehow different from us, somehow less fearful, less emotional. They are not.
Being brave or courageous without fear or anxiety is not brave or courageous, it’s neither of those things as if we don’t experience the fear, there is not need to be brave or courageous. Bravery and fear go together; however when we are brave we are not letting our fear have the final say.
Bravery and courage can be learned – it’s unlikely to experience some super fearful situation and immediately turn into some brave superhero. Bravery and courage can be habits, ‘practices’ we learn over time. We start small, not with huge heroic deeds or frankly even publicly visible deeds, but with smaller actions where we are brave and act courageously not allowing the fear, which is unique to us, have the final say. And then build from there.
The intention is not for fear to go away, because it won’t, the intention is for us to build our courage ‘muscle’. Do it daily, alongside of going to the gym, practicing mindfulness, etc.
The world desperately needs more courageous people.
Thanks, Amos – insightful as ever, and practical with it. What a great combination.