Fear moves you or paralyses you. Do you think brave people aren’t afraid? They are just as afraid as you and I, perhaps even more so, but they took the helm of their lives and fear moved them; it did not paralyse them. It led them to take a step forward in the face of the uncertainty involved in making a decision based on fear. They paused for a few seconds, or perhaps a few thousandths of a second were enough to assess the possible risks they were taking. What is the worst that can happen? What is the best that can happen to me? They trusted their decision, and there they are, a beacon guiding so many lives, yours and mine.
What distinguishes a brave person from a coward is the trust they place in themselves, in their assessments, in their decisions.
You don’t have to perform great feats to be brave. A mountain was not made in a single day. Sometimes being brave means saying good morning in a lift full of long faces on a Monday morning. The first Monday, you will hear silence in reply, with its echo for company. The second Monday, only silence. The third Monday, you will hear a shy reply to your good morning, with a slight smile reflected in the mirror; that will brighten your day. What you aren’t yet aware of is that you had already been brightening those long faces for two Mondays in a row. Yes, you were the brave one who showed the way to those people now emerging from the freezer thanks to your help.
Sometimes being brave means smiling at a stranger, sometimes it means hugging someone in need, sometimes being brave means simply looking in the mirror and recognising your worth, recognising that you hold the reins of your life, not fear.
With those small, everyday acts of bravery, you nurture the giant within you, and once you become aware that you and you alone have control over those fears you have imposed on yourself or that your parents, your surroundings or society have imposed on you, it will be easier to realise that you weren’t born to be just another face in the crowd, and that you are free to shine.
Let us perform small acts of bravery every day, as examples both for all those silent onlookers we have each day and for the you or me of tomorrow who needs that inspiration to find the courage to step forward, leaving fear behind. Let us be an inspiration, let us be our own inspiration.
“The one who is brave is free.”
Seneca