The Story Behind The Equation of Courage and Fear
Following Wings of Hope and Love Is…, I decided to do courage next. As I did with Love Is…, I started with “courage” and asked myself “What is courage?”. The phrase “The ability to act in spite of fear” came to mind, but in my life, fear is what keeps you safe.
That’s where I started. I reflected back on my life and asked “Why am I so afraid all the time? How many times have I been held back by fear?” The answer is “a lot”. As I reflected on these times, I began to write about them. The times I’ve wanted to thank someone. When I see someone doing something nice, I freeze up when I want to say “thank you”. What was there to be afraid of?
Fear and anxiety tells me everything that could go wrong. They tell me all the horrible things people could do. They tell me all the reasons not to trust people. Is courage not feeling that?
In the end, I settled on what I thought courage was. As I wrote in The Equation of Courage and Fear, it wasn’t the lack of fear. It was standing up to fear and telling it “no”. In my life, that’s one of the hardest things for me to do. One day, I hope I can stand up to it.
© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA