More Than Just Having Guts.
Three Levels of Bravery You Should Know About.
Bravery is an interesting word - a courageous behavior or character.
Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. It is the ability to overcome or do something that is generally said to be scary.
Becoming brave requires massive self-trust from you. The type of trust that makes you believe that you can do whatever it is you’ve set out to do. It is easier to just sit and imagine yourself taking the steps you need to take than it is to actually go out and do these things.
Many times, the fear of failure cripples you. You wonder what people will say and how they’d react, and you resign to doing nothing about it.
Bravery could be split into three levels; bravery towards self, others, and your beliefs.
Level One - Self.
This is all about being honest with you - the real you. Before anything or anyone else, you need to be brave for yourself. Without this level, you really can’t reach the other levels.
As humans, we are constantly faced with events and situations that we do not necessarily like or approve of, but we go ahead with them anyway. Society might have placed some expectations or limitations on us that make us feel uncomfortable but we rarely speak up. After all, that is life.
So many people are paralyzed by the idea of what they want that they never end up actually going for it. The fear of the unknown is one of the major things that prevent you from being honest with yourself and going after what you truly desire.
But bravery involves doing things in spite of your fears.
It takes bravery to stop lying to yourself or holding yourself back from going after that which your heart truly desires. All the excuses you have made up over time, though they may make sense to you, need to be retired and buried.
Being dishonest with yourself takes a toll on you. It is fatigue, resentment, and all kinds of stress you don’t need.
When you are brave, you trust yourself to be able to take a shot and actually do stuff. This trust that you have in yourself then grows into confidence which helps you become a better person whether you fail or succeed at what you tried.
We are usually tempted to remain in our comfort zone not because it is all that comfortable but because it is what we are familiar with. Naturally, we would always choose familiar over the unknown but it takes bravery to venture out.
Are you brave enough to be honest with yourself?
The directions to an awesome life are written on the outside of your comfort zone.
Level Two - Others.
When it comes to being brave with others, you must be willing to upset people with a little bit of measured candor. There’s really no other way.
We often try our best not to upset anyone or anything so we just decide to leave things as they are - no comments, no suggestions, no questions. Being brave when it comes to other people means that you are open and honest with them.
It’s you being unreserved and completely frank. It’s you being able to question other people’s actions when you need to. It’s you being able to tell them when they are wrong.
Many people find it difficult, to be honest with others. They often shy away from being this person because they realize that this makes other people a little bit uncomfortable. They fear the reaction of the other person and prefer to stay quiet.
It is true that not everyone is very welcoming of honesty or you questioning their stand, especially when it is not sugarcoated. This is why you need to be brave. You need to understand that when you are attempting to be frank with someone, their immediate response is to become defensive and attempt to shield their ego.
Whatever they say or do at that moment in time doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with you - they’re only in survival mode. Knowing that they will eventually get out of this mode and come to terms with the truth you spilled should make you feel better about being this blatantly honest person.
So are you really brave enough to be honest with others?
Level Three - Beliefs.
This is the highest and most challenging level. Many people find it difficult to attain this level. This is where you question why it is that you believe what you believe - politics, religion, family, careers, etc.
Many of the things we believe are things we were taught to believe. We either get born into them, grow up with them around us, or have them taught to us. Many people can’t really defend their beliefs because they haven’t been brave enough to actually confront these beliefs and question them.
Questioning your beliefs doesn’t necessarily lead to you changing them - it just helps you understand them better. It is in questioning things that you truly understand what they are, and why they are the way they are.
But many people don’t even want to go there. They can’t even imagine questioning their beliefs. To them, it’s a no-go area whereas they are just choosing familiar over the unknown. Like I mentioned earlier, it takes bravery to venture into the unknown and really get honest with your beliefs.
Are you willing to move past a simple black-and-white understanding of your beliefs?
Genuine growth in life, the type that gives you clarity and focus, never happens without this third level of bravery.
Takeaway.
Bravery is indeed an interesting word. It could just mean that you have guts but guts to do what? You’ve got to believe that you are brave enough, to be honest with yourself, others, and to question your beliefs.
The ideas you have at any point come to you because they want to be expressed. They do not come to you just to live and die in your fantasy. You are supposed to act on them. It’s really not your business whether they fail or not. Your job is to act on them.
If you never take a shot, how do you ever expect to score? If you can’t score, then you have lost by default. You have to be willing to fail and be disliked by some people. You have to be willing to feel socially awkward for as long as it takes. You have to be brave enough to take a shot.
Bravery is not the absence of fear. It is taking action in spite of fear.
If you don’t do it, somebody else will.
May the fourth be with you.
Funbi
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