I’ve heard people talk about the fowl; that when you bring it to a new environment, it stands on one leg for a while as if to test the security of the place. This has been the belief of so many people including myself.
So while I got the inspiration to hinge this article on taking steps on how to exercise courage that would evaporate your fears, I wanted to use this illustration of the chicken’s strategy to overcome fear until I did some research about it. Guess what I discovered…
According to Bird note, bird’s legs have an adaptation called “rete mirabile” which helps to minimize heat loss. The arteries that transport warm blood into the legs lie in contact with the veins that return colder blood to the bird’s heart. And so, by standing on one leg, a bird reduces by half the amount of heat lost through limbs without feathers.
Once I got this new information, it strengthened my earlier resolve to always do research on certain trends, topics or stories picked up from the mouths of every Tom, Dick and Harry. You should imbibe this culture too! It increases your knowledge bank.
Now back to the main reason for this article…
It’s a another Monday and everyone is on the fast lane to going about their weekly activities. Some of you may have already been hit by a setback or there’s an existing milestone you’re yet to overcome because you’ve been paralysed by fear. Maybe fear of failure, loss, poverty, etc. One of the most common is the fear of failure.
It is Mark Twain who says that courage is not absence of fear; it is control of fear, mastery of fear. Your fears stop you from taking action until you start telling yourself, ‘I can do it’.
It takes the gradual follow up of step by step strategies for you to overcome whatever fears you’re facing. This leads us to the two kinds of courage that you need:
The courage to take action
You need to start with baby steps. Take a leap of faith to go all in, knowing that there’s a possibility of failure which would be short term at least.
The courageous patience
This is the intentional ability to continue working and clawing through even when there’s no immediate result. This is hard to do, realistically speaking. In my writing career, I’ve had to face my fair share of fears. I use to think I am knowledgeably limited when a wonderful topic idea lights a bulb in my mind. After writing one or two lines, I’d just abort mission. Why?
Courage, dear heart
C.S. Lewis
Because I think I’m not in that field and so wouldn’t be able to write on it. Because of this I couldn’t meet up some deadlines. Let me tell you what almost happened subsequently.
For six months I stopped writing! I didn’t think I could ever go back to it until i started taking sometime out to study on some major topics, just to garner more knowledge. This was one of my strategies and it worked.
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Get out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie
Sometimes, I’m only able to write up to 400 words and it just stops flowing. Still, I don’t give up. I also dedicate at least 30minutes to studying quotes from various scholars every day. I call them courage pills; I believe they will help you as well.
- “The best way out is always through.” ~Robert Frost
- “All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” ~Earl Nightingale
- “Never give up. Keep trying and pushing and struggling, even if you don’t know what your goal is or why you would want to achieve it.”~Jack Handey
- “Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.” ~ John Wooden
- “Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”~ Maya Angelou
- “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”~ Muhammad Alli
- “Have the courage to act instead of react.”~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
- “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”~ Winston Churchill
- “Courage is on display every day, and only the courageous wring the most out of life.”~ Zig Ziglar
- “To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live, and love.”~ Leo Buscaglia
- “Only be you strong, and very courageous, then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” ~ Joshua 1:7-8
- “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” ~ Eddie Rickenbacker, World War I hero
Jump and you will find out how to unfold your wings when you fall
Ray Bradbury
Don’t just stop here, digest and make these words a part of you. Take a bold step today and live your dreams. You can do it!
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