What is courage ?

Repost from June 2023, LinkedIn.

What is courage ?

Courage is to fear and yet overcome the fear.

Courage is writing my first article on LinkedIn.

Courage is taking a leap into the void, the unknown, and finding out you can fly.

Courage is to believe in yourself when nobody else does.

Courage means surfing on life : of course you might fall a few times but only to get back up easier each time until you find the right balance on the waves.

We’ve all been through phases of deep fear, doubts or despair, only reflecting, analysing about what we could do differently or how we could do things differently.

These waves of thoughts are all happening in our head. However, the word courage comes from the Latin “cor” meaning “heart”.

Thus, courage is only the extension of our heart, the action following up the feeling, when we allow ourselves to reconnect with our senses.

Following your gut feeling and intuition is courageous. Being different is courageous.

It also means sticking to your ideas and vision when everybody else is telling you the opposite.

It also means knowing your own value and the value of your craft.

What we fear is judgement and criticism.

We fear because we all want to belong and be part of a group. We are social beings after all.

What we fear is failure and success.

I say both failure and success with intention because for me one doesn’t go without the other : success cannot happen without failure and failure makes us more successful.

Courage is overcoming those fears, overcoming judgment and criticism because we recognize that others have the right to their own vision and priorities. It is only human to judge. But comparing and judging is like saying blue is better than green. Blue is blue, green is green.

Both colors are unique and beautiful.

The moment we start perceiving our uniqueness is the moment we start changing our perspectives on life and work.

Courage is thinking outside the box. There’s not only one solution. Life is full of solutions, and our professional decisions will be influenced by our culture, environment, education, or the willpower to change.

Change feels uncomfortable but courage means sitting in discomfort and allowing change to happen. Feeling uncomfortable is the start of growth.

Courage means growth.