Why Bother Living Courageously?

As I tear off the cellophane of a brand-new calendar and place it on my desk, I am reminded of the freshness which comes with a new year. For the next three-hundred sixty-five days, I get to choose how to live my life. Though every day is a new day with precisely twenty-four hours, not every day is exactly alike. And though I can design a blueprint for my day, as I should, I cannot predict the unexpected. We are all aware of how unknown circumstances can redraft any of our best conceived ideas, or how they can redirect a well-established routine. When the small or large unpredictable variables present themselves, as they will, what keeps us on course?  

    Courage to Live our Convictions

Our society is ever changing. Just looking through old photo albums depicts how fashion fads have come and gone. On a more serious note, observing the social behavioral statistics of our day show that crime, suicide and divorce, are on the incline. 

If I were to set my standard for living according to our present societal climate, I would be tossed by the wind and sunk in no time. And if I do not want to be squeezed into a mold which forms me in a way contrary to my convictions, then I need courage to live contrary to the one of the general populaces.  

I am a collector of quotes and recently I read one which inspired me to live more fearlessly, and boldly. In essence it said that without courage, life gets smaller, but with courage, life grows more expansive. These words resonate with me. I know from personal experience that when I am afraid, fear holds me as its prisoner in solitary confinement. But, when I step away from real or imagined fear, restrictive living and thinking no longer bind me.

Courage is the capacity to meet danger without giving way to anxiety. To have courage is to wean ourselves from the habit of always overcompensating on behalf of another person’s uncouth behavior. We know when we are stout hearted when we can put our convictions into practice and speak our mind while staying aligned to our heart. 

Having valor does not mean we are vain. Brave people know when they are wrong, learn from their mistakes and ask to be forgiven when they know they need to. Tenacious people are less likely to live with regrets, and instead, live without them.

Why bother living courageously? It is worth it to practice valor since we have three hundred and sixty-five days ahead to try it on for size.