What is Courage to you?

What is courage?

We have all areas in life we ​​feel comfortable in. Our areas of expertise, when we are in our comfort zone and feel really confident. When we feel like we are nailing it! Being confident in doing something is a great feeling. Being able to believe in your abilities and capabilities and feeling sure of a positive outcome.

The skill you display with confidence now, was once newly acquired and at the time it required courage to develop and grow it. In order not to stay still or stagnate, you always want to keep growing and developing, learning. Hence , you need to get yourself out of your comfort zone into your stretch zone. This is where positive change happens. This is where you need courage ....

Having courage is the ability to do something that frightens you; bravery. So, really, it means NOT being confident and doing it anyway; being daring regardless of the outcome.

I love that one of the synonyms for courage is the term audacity, which is defined as `cocky boldness´ and to me sounds like a rather undesirable trait. It is almost as though courage outrageously or unreasonably requests you to be daring. Like we don't actually have the right to it. When, really, I think that everyone needs courage and everyone has it within themselves.

“To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself." - Soren Kierkegaard

Don't we all need courage to progress in life and grow ?

It is September and all my children have started at a new school after moving from Switzerland to England. They have gone through a lot of change and I have been nothing short of amazed by the amount of courage they have had. New home, new school, new environment, new teacher, new schedule, new friends, etc. Sometimes they were aware of their courage and they embraced it and sometimes there was just no choice but to go through with it. However, what has struck me most is the way they were able to reflect upon their courage and how taking risks has felt both stressful and uncertain at times. They also explored all the things they are gaining by putting themselves out there. It does take courage to go out there and `do you´ in a new context, which holds more uncertainties than familiarities. When you don`t have your best friend with you, cheering you on. In the end they all had some negative and some positive experiences and that is how they grow. They are gaining new experiences, friends, ideas and outlooks.

Once you make space for your own courage and you start to experience all that you can gain and how much you grow in the process, it makes it easier to find courage the next time you need it. You develop resilience and start building up more tolerance for risks.

What would it feel like, if you didn't let fear hold you back from exploring new opportunities. What would you be able to achieve and do, if you didn't worry about consequences and negative outcomes? Of course we are never free of our worries but creating a space for courage and keeping those fears and worries in check in favour of positive change is courageous in itself and the first step to achieve our dreams.

What amazing things could happen, if you gave yourself permission to dream the biggest dream and then just take a leap of faith to go and take the first step towards it? To make space for COURAGE...

#courage#coaching#youngandoldalike#daretobe