You don't have to have courage, just don't act on your fears

I've been thinking a lot recently, about the concept of courage. It's one of my core values, and I've been wanting to be more and more courageous in my life.

Firstly, one thing I've been doing is reframing the 'unknown' or 'uncertainty' into the 'new'. New has a more positive connotation than unknown or uncertainty. And I'm willing to believe that new can be better. New can be more fun than before. New can be more joyous. New is definitely an opportunity to explore a whole other side to myself.

Secondly, when I'm feeling really really scared about something, I usually plough through my fears and trying to muster up the courage to do exactly the opposite of it. For example, I'm trying to set up my own platform, but I have fears of putting myself 'out there'. So in the recent past, I would try and force myself to put myself out there through amping up the self talk. It would honestly feel like I was pushing myself off a cliff. It felt unsafe and triggering.

Instead though, I wanted to be gentler and more compassionate towards myself. Now when I'm in a state of fear about something, I simply tell myself "Don't act on your fear".

That might just mean, stay where you are. Stay on your current path. Don't turn back and take a step back towards what's familiar. Eventually, when I'm ready I may choose to take a baby step forward.

Doing nothing in particular, (with the conscious knowledge that you're actively not choosing to do something destructive to yourself) is the easiest thing to do when you're gripped by fear.

Gentle, compassionate self-talk is always, ALWAYS the smoothest, most direct pathway to realising your dreams.