Nobody Regrets the Path of Courage
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Nobody Regrets the Path of Courage
November 2022 Newsletter
Look into your past and find a memory when you did the “hard thing.” Select something that felt scary, something that required a leap of faith, something where success was uncertain, something that took courage and had no guarantees.
Did you regret that experience?
Even when the going got tough, or there were embarrassing or clumsy moments, or you cried, or you didn’t get the intended results…did you regret it?
I doubt it.
Why? Because nobody regrets the path of courage.
We only have regrets when we recoil because of fear. When fear becomes the driver, and consumes our attention and actions, we tend to go through the motions and eventually quit. This doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to quit. Quitting may be the healthy thing to do. But it needs to come from strength and solidarity, not cowardice.
The path of courage is trusting your inward light and acting in spite of fear. Maybe that action is doing or saying nothing, where you give space to the situation; or, maybe you are actively in motion and moving the ball forward. Doesn’t matter. Both are equal, both are courageous.
You could fail miserably in your endeavor, but if it was the path of courage, you will have no regrets. You still would have grown from that experience. You would have learned something or developed a quality that you thought you never had or you may have laid the foundation for something great to come. There is nothing to regret when sculpting your character.
To orient yourself toward courage, draw your focus to the what and the why. In other words, what are you doing and why are you doing it. Let the how take third place. Too many people are consumed by the how—the plans— and never step outside their front door. The how is important, but only after you get moving and connect with the what and the why.
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A couple fun Lord of the Rings quotes that inspired the above article:
Certainty of death? Small chance of success? What are we waitin’ for? — Gimli
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to — Bilbo Baggins
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Most of our attention is hijacked by our work-centric culture, technology, media, and the endless phone notifications. We need to regain our humanity and community. Try this simple act of humanity: next time you’re in a local shoppe, and you’re cashing out, make eye contact with the cashier for a few moments and smile.
p.s. Every month you will receive a newsletter like this one. I generally send them out the last week of the month. You can unsubscribe anytime at the bottom of the email.