Did you know: Courage is not bravery? Although similar, they
are distinctly different if you take a closer look.
We’re not at war, or at least most of us aren’t. Day to day,
we live our lives without someone trying to destroy what we’ve built or worse.
For those who are in those positions, it takes courage to fight back,
especially in fearful odds and real danger. Fighting a winning battle doesn’t
require a lot courage; Fighting a losing battle, does.
Bravery however, is the ability to step out of your comfort
zone to do something that might not succeed, or be risky without grave danger
being involved. Compared to the real wars and problems of the world, these
risks should really be irrelevant – yet we still fear them. Why? Fear of
failure? Not exactly.
We’ve all met and some of us are, people who are scared of
trying new or challenging things… things that we in our hearts know we want to
do or could be fun and yet we don’t try when the time comes. Swimming in the
sea? Jumping into the pool from the wall? Making a move on your crush? Going to
a party alone? Pathetic? Well, that depends how you look at the following
statement:
Bravery is not something you are born with, it’s something
we have to build and grow. Furthermore, we don’t stay brave forever, just
because we were brave once. You might notice not only in yourself, but also
other people who used to brave in a way that they would just try anything and
have fun doing so, but just aren’t like that anymore? This is where I can hear
an echo of people replying with an “It’s because we’re getting old”… well then
I guess Banana George was not human, because we was doing barefoot water-skiing
up until he was 80 years old… not exactly a gentile sport - barefoot water-skiing
packs a punch when you make a mistake due to the speeds (google it). So unless
you are 60-70 years old, or suffer from something restricting you of trying new
things, OR you are in fact dead(which by the way, you aren’t if you are reading
this), you have nothing close to an excuse for not doing things you know in
your heart you want to.
Building bravery: How do we do it? Where does it start?
Simply put – you need to break your comfort zone, frequently. Start small:
things that you know deep in your heart you want to do, but feel too lazy or
tired to do… SHOULD BE DONE. Talking to the girl or guy you have a crush on,
should be done. Going for a run or doing pushups you wanted to do after work,
but feel too tired to do when you get home, should be done. It’s not always
comfortable, but takes bravery (even if just a little). There is no real danger
involved. Getting your feelings hurt is nothing compared to fighting off an
attack on your life. Failing at anything will only make you better at it… but
most importantly, just stepping out of your comfort zone in any situation, will
build bravery. You always win.
Even more amazing: as soon as you start stepping out of your
comfort zone frequently, you’ll be able to more easily do so in the future for
things that require more bravery. And so the snowball goes… never thought bravery would work downhill – easy.
Life is today, not tomorrow. Brave? Your heart could be.
