COURAGE

Let’s talk about courage.

What moves someone to be courageous? Well, usually it’s fear, right? We all have fears like, public speaking or heights, for example. Having fears or experiencing fear is normal. Fear is a good thing. In fact, it’s healthy. Without fear, there would be no need for courage.

Let’s discuss 3 tips to help you gain more courage.

#1 ACKNOWLEDGE AND CONFRONT

Acknowledge. Know what your fears are.

Confront. Face those fears head on.

For example, one of my biggest fears is public speaking. I know for me, whenever I know I must publicly speak I feel hot, and I feel like my heart is beating so fast I can’t breathe.

So now that I have acknowledged my fear, what’s next?

Confront it. How do I confront it? By thinking of ways to reduce the amount of anxiety or nervousness. How would I do that? Maybe I’m used to having everything prepared right at the last minute. So, one thing I can change is maybe having things prepared a little more ahead of time. This ensures that I have more than enough time to practice and be better prepared. This will also reduce the amount of anxiety. Thus, giving me a little more courage to take on this challenge.

#2 POSITIVE TALK ONLY

Another way to gain more courage is to talk positively to yourself. It is so easy to speak negatively to yourself especially when it comes to your fears. For example, let’s say I have to publicly speak in a month. As I am preparing to do this throughout the month, I tell myself I can’t do it. This will result in the fear escalating into anxiety. Because I am telling yourself that I can’t do it, I’ll start to believe it. And worst-case scenario, when the time comes for me to present my speech, it may not go as planned because my mindset was already negative. Use positive self-talk to boost courage. Instead of saying, “I can’t do it”, say “I am a little nervous about doing this but in the end, I know this will be good for me.”

#3 NO SUCH THING AS PERFECTION

Remember that there is no such thing as perfection. You can’t be perfect all the time. We can use the same example from before. If I was to spend majority of my time constantly changing things in the speech, to make it “more perfect”, it would be pointless. Don’t spend so much time trying to make things perfect. Practice does not make perfect. A lot of fears stem from wanting perfection. Wanting everything to be perfect just creates more fear and anxiety. Practice makes improvement, remember that. This will help you to gain more courage.

There are many other tips that can help you to gain more courage when it comes to your fears. But these 3 tips really help me when I’m in need of a little courage. So, remember, acknowledge and confront your fears head on, speak positively to yourself, and finally, remember that there is no such thing as perfection.

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