A Question of Courage
- kat17021
- Nov 18
- 4 min read
I have spent the morning thinking, reflecting and reading about courage. What does it mean? Look like? What does it mean to me?
Often courage is defined as doing things that scare us but I wonder if there is more to it. Is it really that black and white or is it more grey or is it really all the colours of the rainbow? I like to think of courage as its own kind of beasty, sometimes placid, sometimes loud and insistent but always present somewhere within us.
I came across these lines of poetry by Karuna Ezara Parikh in her gorgeous poetry collection “Where Stories gather”:
“Be brave
Be kind
Live gently
But with Fire”
When we need it, courage is there to give us fire, to propel us forwards, to stand up for ourselves, to be honest about what we need, to say no, to find joy, to do what makes us happy.
Life is busy and noisy and demanding and sometimes incredibly difficult to deal with. It takes courage to step back and to find our own path, focus on our own journey and where it might take us instead of mindlessly following everyone else.
As Julia Cameron writes,
“It takes courage to see ourselves and our world more clearly”
Maybe there is freedom to be found when we let ourselves be courageous in whatever shape or form that might be. For all of us there are things that we cannot change, that are beyond our control, that we feel helpless and powerless about. But courage can give us little things too, freedom within ourselves, to know and hear what’s in our hearts, what lights up our souls.
I don’t know about you, but my mind can be a scatty place, fluttering from one thing to the next, rarely restful, packed to the brim with worries and thoughts and what ifs. I need my courage to seek solitude and quiet, to withdraw into nature or a good book, to be silent.
There are a million demands on our attention every day, we get bombarded with information so it’s no surprise really that our minds are overactive and many of us find it incredibly difficult to switch off.
Maybe what we need to remember is that we can choose- we have the freedom to decide what we let in and what we shut out. And sometimes putting this into practice takes courage. Courage to say thanks but no thanks. Courage to ask for what you need. Courage to ask for help. Courage to make time for the things that fill you with joy. Courage in the face of people who might not understand or call you selfish.
Courage might also be saying yes to things when your go to is always no. It might be going for that coffee with a new friend when you want to curl up on the sofa and binge watch Netflix. It might be allowing yourself to be vulnerable and telling someone you trust what’s really going on for you. Sometimes courage leads you to places you thought you would never get to see. I think courage takes its lead from your heart and your soul. Often our wisdom resides in our body and we often ignore what it tells us because our head shouts louder. But to find real, true courage, I feel it has to come from the depths of our being, to be about something we really care about, something we believe in.
When I think of people I consider courageous, they all seem to live and have lived their lives on their own terms, at their own pace, quietly or loudly but always true to themselves, even if that meant disapproval, rejection or ridicule from the people around them or society at large. It makes me wonder why we give away our power so easily? Why we let others determine our path or what we should or shouldn’t do? We only get this one life, so why do we assume others know best?
It's a very human need to be loved and accepted but do we put this above all else and if so, at what cost?
Then again, we might feel that our courage has deserted us, because our circumstances or experiences can feel impossible at times.
As Hattie Crisell wrote in her book “In Writing- Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation”,
“(…) [Courage] can’t go on. It’s outraged by the scale of the challenge. It would rather die than take another step across the page.”
Admittedly, Hattie is talking about courage with regards to working on your manuscript and writing but I feel you could apply her thoughts on courage to other challenges we face as well. Getting a new job. Buying a house. Dating. Leaving the house when you have panic attacks. Saying no to someone you find challenging to talk to. Asking for help. Booking that health check you know you really need.
I believe though that our courage is always within our reach but sometimes it might have gone into hiding and we need to coax it out of its hiding place. And if we need our courage, chances are that there will be an element of fear or anxiety about whatever it is we are facing.
I wrote the following lines last year in January,
“Courage doesn’t mean you won’t feel afraid.
It just means that your heart screams louder than your fear”
Maybe we need to take care of our courage and our courage will take care of us.
Maybe our courage is there to remind us to stay true to ourselves even if that means feeling afraid and stepping onto our own path, to see where it leads, for our heart to be open, for our soul to take flight and to welcome whatever we might find.
If you feel like you want to explore what courage means to you or you need help and support to make the changes you want to make so that you can live the life you envision for yourself, please get in touch- a warm welcome awaits you and I look forward to hearing from you 😊
References
Cameron, Julia (2023). Write for Life
Crisell, Hattie (2024). In Writing- Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation
Parikh, Karuna Ezara (2021). Where Stories Gather
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