It’s a word that sometimes brings up images of dramatic, over-the-top, world-altering moments of life and death scenarios. But our existences are rarely like that. Courage is nothing more than the ability to do something that scares you.
I am scared of going out in public: Then it takes courage to go to the grocery store.
I am scared of being reprimanded by a boss: Then it takes courage to hold a job.
I am scared of the dark: Then it takes courage to go for a walk at night, even with a flashlight.
I am scared of failure. Ridicule. Death. Being alone. Being controlled. Intimacy. Responsibility. Change.
Life is terrifying. I won’t deny that.
It takes great courage to be you. And whoever you are, we need that.
It takes courage to not back away and retreat from the world. We need that.
We need the next generation to say, "I am going to do the hard things. I am going to do the scary things." We need it because the world has to go on when we are too old to carry it forward. We need it because every comfort you have ever known came from someone who was scared in the first place, could have failed, could have hidden, but did it anyway. You and I benefit from their courage. Who else will benefit from yours?
If life is the story you tell yourself every day, what do you want that story to be? It can become remarkable not in grand moments but in a collection of small ones that add up to an amazing tale.
We need that.
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