Hey y’all! This blog post is the third of the four part series about the virtues of Stoicism. If you haven’t already, you should check out my previous posts giving an overview of Stoicism and talking about the virtues of wisdom and justice. Read this article when you’re finished. If you’re already one step ahead of me, which you probably are, then pull up a chair and let’s talk courage.
Like all of the virtues, courage stems from an area of self
In this case, that area of the self is action. Which makes sense, since courage is what drives our action in spite of how we feel. We’ll dive more into that in a second though.
First, let’s define courage
As always, here’s a dictionary definition. And surprisingly, I really vibe with this definition. That’s probably because it deals with mental toughness and perseverance. The implication is that you’re courageous in the face of something, which in most cases boils down to fear.
I personally feel that’s one of the most important things to note. And to do that, we’re going to dive into one my favorite concepts: dichotomy.
“Uh, ok David, what’s dichotomy?”
Glad you asked! Dichotomy is the idea of two mutually exclusive and polar opposite ideas. It’s essentially the concept of the yin-yang. So we think about opposites: light and dark, good and evil, courage and cowardice. And if cowardice is the opposite of courage, then the implication is that a coward succumbs to fear, rather than performing an act in spite of fear.
“……….why does that matter David?”
It matters because many people have a belief that courage is the absence of fear. Which couldn’t be further from the truth. In actuality, courage is being afraid, but doing what needs to be done anyways. It’s a simple distinction, but has massive implications for how we approach actions.
Without fear, there is no need for courage. That’s the key thing here. If you’re concerned about doing something because you’re afraid, that’s ok. Being brave doesn’t mean that you’re without fear. Because if you weren’t afraid, then you wouldn’t actually be being brave.
So how do we get learn, practice, and train courage?
This is a fun one, in that it’s super simple, but not easy in the slightest. Learning is pretty straightforward: it’s pretty much dependent on discovering what frightens you.
Practicing is the really tricky part. You have to do things that scare you. Let me qualify that statement: you shouldn’t go out and do something stupid and scary, like driving on the wrong side of the highway or wrestling a grizzly bear. But taking a cold shower, speaking up in a work meeting, or pushing yourself in the gym are good ways to exercise your courage muscle. Really, it’s about doing things that are outside of your comfort zone.
Not only will taking these steps build courage, but you’ll also increase your confidence. Which is important, because confidence comes from knowing what you can handle, and you can use it when you enter unfamiliar situations. So practicing your courage will build confidence as well, which builds more courage. These are traits that we will all need at some point or another.
As for actually training courage, it comes back to reflection. Taking time to acknowledge the times you’ve exercised courage, or failed to, and learning from them. And then when you face another foreign situation, you can utilize your history of courage to help you conquer that next test in your life.
So what does this mean?
It means that we all have the capability to be courageous, and we have opportunities every day to exercise that muscle. And exercise it we should, because the decisions that scare us the most tend to have the most impact on our lives. In that way, we should take time to run towards things that scare us on the daily, so that we don’t miss out on what life has to offer.
Thank you for taking time to talk courage with me today. I want to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment or hit me up via the Contact Me page. If you enjoyed the content, please subscribe! And if you know someone who could gain something from it, please share it with them! Don’t forget to take some time this week to talk humans with someone. Until next time, catchya later!