“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers it.” ~ Nelson Mandela

When I think of what holds most people back from what they truly want, it’s not the lack of money or education, or time—that’s just a well placed excuse. Everyone will let us off the hook because those excuses are completely plausible. But if we were to dig a little deeper, I believe we’d find that fear is the #1 reason, by far, that most people don’t move forward with their dreams and desires.

Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear,” which would help me argue that there is no such thing as being fearless. People who appear to be fearless are actually filled with fear, and doubt, and insecurities, but they’ve mustered up the courage to move forward anyway because they’ve decided something else is more important. What is your “something else” that’s more important than fear?

Winston Churchill so succinctly stated, “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” This is a huge distinction. Courage is not only a decision, but a choice. We get to choose courage over fear. Choosing courage is a binary decision: yes or no. It’s that simple. We muddied the waters with excuses like money, time, education, etc. Three brave men explained how we can overcome fear with courage because they did. Will you take their lead? It’s your choice.

With Gratitude,

Beth