“Courage is…”

I often get asked what I mean when I talk about courage. While I say that courage is action in the presence of fear and self doubt, I am also aware that it is far far more than that. Courage comes in  many faces and what it means to each of us to act with courage changes over the course of our lives.

A few days ago, in a rare quiet moment, I sat down to reflect on what courage is to me. This is what came out of my pen.

Courage is challenging your stories about what’s possible, rewriting those that stifle your happiness and limit your success.

Courage is daring to create a vision that inspires you (even as it scares you), trusting your ability to rise above any obstacles lining your path forward.

Courage is refusing to succumb to the doubts and insecurities of those around you, forging your own path and owning your power to make a difference that no-one else can.

Courage is not letting your hardships define you nor your setbacks stop you, knowing that you can’t savor life’s richness without embracing its rawness.

Courage is speaking up to make a stand for what you hold true, risking ridicule and rejection because something more important is at stake.

Courage is saying ‘Enough!’ to the fears that urge you to play safe, speak safe, love safe and live safe, knowing that becoming vulnerable to you fears lies at the heart of everything worthwhile.

That’s what Courage is to me. What does courage mean to you, and where is your life waiting for you to live with more of it? As I wrote in Stop Playing Safe, only when we are willing to step beyond the safety of our comfort zone can we create the meaningful lives we want and make the difference we can. 

Margie Warrell is a master coach,  keynote speaker and the bestselling author of Stop Playing Safe: Rethink Risk. Tap the Power of Courage. Achieve Outstanding Success (Wiley) and Find Your Courage: 12 Acts for Becoming Fearless in Work and Life (McGraw-Hill). Courage building videos, resources and more information at www.margiewarrell.com