Celebrating Courage

 When I think of courage, I am often reminded of the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz.  I remember watching that character singing "If I Were King of the Forest" and feeling for his inability to summon the courage to stand up for himself and even face his own shadow.  There definitely have been times where I could relate to that struggle.  Where deep down I knew that I was able to take on a challenge or had something to share with others, but was unable to come forward and take that next step.  So many classes I sat in through school where I had the answer to a question being asked, but could not raise my hand out of fear of being seen as a "browner" or nerd.  I have chewed on ideas instead of sharing them with others for fear of being seen as too opinionated or controlling.  I have also held myself back from trying new things, taking leaps and even pushing against comfort zones for fear of not succeeding.

As I think back over these experiences of holding myself back, I can conjure up the feeling of almost saying or doing and then stopping myself and that feeling of let down that came with once again playing small and staying safe.  Time and experience has helped me to see that it is much easier to be courageous when we remove the necessity of success from the equation.  How much easier it is to take a step outside of our comfort zone when we know that there is no wrong answer and we are going to focus on the act of stretching as opposed to the final outcome of that stretch.  

This is where celebrating courage comes in.  I was reminded of this as I sipped on a mug of tea the other day, and the tea tag read "Celebrate Your Successes and Failures; Both Required Great Courage".  That made me stop for a moment and smile.  I liked the idea of actually celebrating failures...instead of sweeping them under the rug or pretending they didn't happen or worse yet beating myself up for them, I could celebrate them by celebrating the courage it took to not succeed.  When I meet people who are living their lives with this mindset and who are following their dreams and aspirations I often feel a genuine sense of wonder and awe at their ability to dust themselves off after something didn't quite go as planned.  I feel humbled by their ability to take things in stride and not let these perceived set backs completely knock them off course.  So if I could feel that for others, why not for me?  Why are my failures so much worse than that of someone else I care about?  Why should I need to add more weight to these than other people?  How would it feel if instead of fixating on the missed goal I fixated on the act of going for it?  

What am I taking from all of this?  A new mindset as I move forward.  Not just a fixation on getting things right, but more of a fixation on the act of putting myself out there, taking a deep breath and leaping towards what I want.  Sure I am bound to end up with some bumps and bruises along the way, but I will also strengthen that courage muscle the more I flex it and that is where my real success lies.