Courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
~ e.e. cummings
“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.”
~ Mark Twain
What is “courage” anyway?
The above quotes about courage resonate with me deeply. I have felt courageous in my life, on more than one occasion. Courage is one of my core values and I believe it’s one of my best assets. This does not mean that I don’t feel fear, because I do. What I have learned is that I am strong and can handle pretty much any circumstance I’m faced with. Not with the wave of a magic wand, but with thought work and self-awareness. This is frequently easier said than done, which is why I have a coach of my own.
Failing on the way to success
Have you ever failed at something? I have, many times and I’m sure I will again. And, I am willing to fail to succeed. To me, being willing to fail is a great act of courage. According to Malcolm Forbes, “Failure is success if we learn from it.” It’s how you handle failures that will determine how those failures affect your future. When a reporter asked Thomas Edison how it felt to fail 1,000 times before successfully inventing the light bulb, he replied: “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention of 1,000 steps.” We don’t learn nearly as much from our successes as we do our failures. And, as Theodore Roosevelt stated in his “Citizenship in a Republic” speech in Paris, France on April 23, 1910:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Another fucking opportunity for growth!
I am grateful that I value courage as much as I do and that I’m not afraid to take chances and risk failure on my way to success. As I build my business, I am failing left and right, and I'm learning tons. Are you willing to embrace your failures and look at them as opportunities to grow?
Are you “In the Arena?” What are you trying that you’re afraid of? Or are you playing it safe? Why?
This week, and for the foreseeable future, I’ll be hosting Facebook Live events covering that weeks “Sunday Snippet”. Join me this week as I tackle the topic of Courage. Monday-Wednesday-Friday afternoons I’ll be popping in to share some additional insights and answer any questions you may have. Please join me!
My name is Nancy McKay and typically women work with me because of my experience overcoming major life challenges like getting sober and surviving ovarian cancer. I love my life now and I'm privileged to help my clients conquer their fears and figure out what to do next, so they can love their life too.
Interested to find out if coaching is right for you?
If you’re looking for a coach that will inspire, motivate and empower you AND that knows how you feel -we should talk. Helping women make a shift in their thinking and in their lives thrills me to pieces and drives everything I do.
Here's what one of my client's had to say:
“Nancy provided coaching during a challenging time in my life. She listened and shared insight to help me gain perspective. Working with Nancy was amazing! I will be forever grateful.”
Your Life. Your Choice
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