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Fear, it is one of our most basic and deep emotions that no matter how hard we try we cannot escape from. It cause us to freeze in place or flee and basically lose control of our senses. When people hear that I am about to forsake a comfortable life and throw myself into the unknown their first reaction is usually, wow, followed by the impression that I most have some sort of courage not found in the common person. The face that I put up shows confidence and I assure people that there is nothing hard about it but underneath that mask I’m scared as hell.
I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around all the things that might go wrong. I have no idea how I am going to get anywhere or accomplish many of my goals. There are going to be numerous obstacles but will I be able to overcome them? Many of those things can be planned for but there will always be a black hole accentuated with a giant question mark looming in front of me and it’s pretty frightening.
In the face of the unknown I take to heart the lesson of the Cowardly Lion from the time worn classic, The Wizard of Oz. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it not just for the heart warming story but the life lessons it teaches.
One of the main characters, the Lion, begins the story a coward who is unsure of anything and scared of everything. He begs the Wizard for courage so that he can become a real lion and in order to receive this reward he is sent on a quest (accompanied by the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Dorothy and Toto).
The Lion sets out determined to do what the Wizard asked in order to receive his courage. Through each obstacle the group encounters we see the Lion act (or not) but always his eyes are on the prize. His driving motivation is that no matter what, he must do what the Wizard asked to attain his dream. In the end he finally returns to the Wizard after successfully accomplishing the quest and demands his reward, courage. The Wizard laughs and tells him that he has already received it. The Lion takes a moment to think and realizes that indeed it is true! He has not been given courage but actually found it within himself.
Everyone wonders how successful people get things done. How do they accomplish such impossible seeming feats? What they did I could never do because (insert BS reason here). The real reason people (you!) don’t act is because they are scared. They are scared of failure, they are scared of the unknown, they are scared of success.
Nothing is easy in the beginning and you wont have everything you need to accomplish your goal and that is scary but if you begin to walk the path bit by bit things will fall into place until at last you have arrived. It’s not easy but if it were everyone would be successful. For the Lion it was courage, for me it is this journey, what is it for you?
People are not born with a quality like courage. What they actually do is find the seed and nourish it as they move forward until it finally blossoms. Stop being scared and start doing something!
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Hey there. You’ve got some good thoughts on the word courage. I must admit, it takes a great deal of courage on your part, to leave a relatively secure life, or at least one that you could have made for yourself, and go off into the unknown without any definitive purpose in mind, other than to go and see and experience things that very few ever have the courage to do. That’s courage, and hopefully your quest will reach a successful conclusion.
Hi Dad,
Thanks for the comment. I actually do have a definitive purpose in mind, just like the lion did. His mission was to gain courage, mine is to gain wisdom, knowledge and experience so that I can be a better businessman. As for the courage part, like the lion I believe I will discover it along the way. The important thing is to take that first step.
Michael