I get told a lot that various things I’ve done are courageous. I’m not so sure “courageous” is the word for it, more like “out of necessity”, “bull-headedness” or plain old “stubbornness.”
I suppose the appropriate reasoning behind using the word courageous to define these acts, is doing something that you are hesitant or afraid to do. Something that could have a risky outcome, but the desire to do it anyway no matter the consequences, because it is what needs to be done. To simply “overcome.”
I think courage is one virtue that I had to learn on my own, it wasn’t something taught to me by my parents, I didn’t learn about it in school. In a sense, I feel we develop our own courage based on the environment in which we grew up as well as the choices we make once we get older. These can include decisions such as financial independence, finding a new job, or even confronting a bully in school.
To me, courage and perseverance go hand in hand at times. Many people when confronted with a time in their life that is difficult will simply roll over. It’s simply hard for me to respect that.
But others will accept the change with courage and fight to stay on top. These are people with a passion and courage that really motivates others.
So courage to me can also mean survival. Doing what is required to survive and hurdling all the obstacles in the process.
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