Courage. The willingness to enter the cave you fear, to do the hard thing first, now, not later. To step, no, RUN out of your comfort zone. The slippery slope is, the better our lives, the more challenging this is; the more comfortable our comfort zone, the less the motivation to get up and explore.
It is relatively easy to do the courageous thing when we have no choice (remember the scene in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” where Paul Newman and Robert Redford jump off a high cliff into a raging river to escape a posse?); the true test of our desire to grasp our greatness is our willingness to move forward consistently, day in and day out, making small brave decisions that build our best lives.
Fear is normal and ever present yet so often is but a paper tiger that fades away once confronted. The glorious truth is that when you feel the fear and do it anyway, when you do the thing you fear; the death of fear is certain. Life rarely gives us more than we have the courage to ask for: Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find.
Closing quotes:
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin, 1903-1977
“You can choose courage or you can choose comfort. But you cannot choose both.” – Brene Brown, ‘Dare to Lead’
“Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous or honest.” – Maya Angelou, 1928-2014
“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” – Mary Tyler Moore, 1936-1917
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier