I used to think that courage and fear were personality traits that lay on either end of a spectrum. ‘Scared’ at one extreme, ‘brave’ at the other, and all of us occupying our own spot somewhere along that single dimension.
However after many years working towards building deep resilience in mind, body and spirit, I now realise that this is completely wrong.
Courage isn’t the opposite of fear. It actually requires fear. There can be no courage without fear – it’s part of what defines courage.
If fear was the opposite of bravery, then 100% bravery would involve 0% fear.
I’ve written previously about the importance of keeping your weight over the front of your slalom ski. This principle applies equally well to many endeavours, and it generally requires us to overcome our natural instinct to lean back, away from the direction of travel. It requires us to overcome our fear.
I read a quote many years ago that started me thinking about this. I can’t recall the exact quote or even where I read it, but this is how I’ve always remembered it:
Courage is just fear with legs.
Or perhaps more thoughtfully articulated by Edward Vernon Rickenbacker:
Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
Navy Seals are awesome. They’re highly trained and conditioned to run towards the gunfire. That’s a great illustration of my point. The gunfire is the gunfire. The fear is the fear. Those are the same for all of us, even Navy Seals.
The difference between courage and cowardice is whether we run away from our fear, or run towards it. To meet that fear, and conquer it.
I think there’s something in that for all of us.
Let me leave you with some more inspirational quotes which reinforce the point:
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
~ Nelson Mandela
There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.
~ L. Frank Baum
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
~ Ambrose Redmoon
Courage is knowing what not to fear.
~ Plato
Your virtual water ski coach,
Todd
PS – Before you go, why not:
