When you think of courage, you probably think of fierce warriors or men dressed in battle uniform. Perhaps you envision a woman battling disease or someone fighting a good fight on behalf of another.
However, bravery comes in many different shapes and forms. Sometimes fearlessness is getting knocked down, but getting back up each and every time. Courage is the willingness to try again.
When I was 3 or 4 years old, I faced the fear of the thorns of this Elephant Tree (and heights) rather than disappoint my father, who took the picture.
Accepting Failure Is Part of the Process
If you have always wanted to try something, or have had a lifelong dream you now wish to follow, you have to start somewhere. That somewhere is a place called courage. If you do not try, then you are guaranteed to fail. However, if you do try, then you’ll know that there is a possibility that you may very well succeed.
However, you have to change your view. Being brave is taking a step and willing to not succeed, but trying again anyhow. If you fail the first time, it is not an ending, it is just the beginning and a learning tool of what not to do in the future. Success may not show up the way you planned, but it will show up sooner or later.
When you do fail and you see that you have, in fact, survived, it will only propel you forward all the more. If everyone who ever succeeded at anything stopped trying after the first few rounds, then we would not have half the achievements and blessing we have in life now.
If at First You Don’t Succeed
There is an old saying that if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. Courage is the willingness to try things over and over again until you find the right formula for success.
And, the right formula for success is to keep going no matter how many times you get knocked down until you figure out what does, indeed, work.
Courage is the willingness to try and try again.
Courage Shows up Differently
Sometimes, courage is not what you think it is either. Sometimes courage is asking for help. Many of us have trouble asking for help, but real courage shows up when you swallow your pride and ask for assistance.
More often than not, it takes a whole lot more courage to ask for help than it does to go it alone.
The Absence of Fear?
Courage does not mean in any way, shape or form that there is an absence of fear. It means that you turn and face your fear and act in spite of it.
Courage means confronting your fear. When you face something you are afraid of, then that only guarantees you future success when it comes to facing something else.
You will look over your shoulder and see that you were afraid, but you took action and faced your fear anyways.
When my father wanted me to pose in that Elephant tree. I was afraid and refused to do it at first. His ire … and my desire not to disappoint him … fueled me with enough courage to climb up into that tree and pose for the picture. If you look at my expression, you can tell I wasn’t having a good time. But, I believe, early experiences of courage have helped me develop my “courage” muscle.
So, if you can take even tiny courageous steps, I believe you, too, can become braver and better able to cope with life’s challenges.
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