Elemental Grace

Courage is not knowing enough to be scared

September 17, 2009

Sometimes, when the sh*t hits the fan, all you can do is power on through it until you come out the other side. People, quite often, wonder how you got through it and fill you chock full of compliments on your bravery and courage but the truth is quite often less glamorous.

A while ago I found myself in a very difficult and quite long-lasting personal situation. Various friends and acquaintances commented on my strength of character at such a stressful and traumatic time but the truth was that I was already halfway through the situation before I realised how bad it was. If I could have seen exactly what it would have been like before I got into it, I’m not entirely convinced that I would have emerged the other side.While I like the admiration and the compliments on my character and actions, I know the rather unglamorous truth but rather than making me feel depressed that I don’t necessarily live up to what others think of me, I find quite inspiring.

An acquaintance recently told me that if people who knew the all the ins and outs of things they embarked on, they would probably never do them. His view is that when you know something inside out, with every possibility and ramification, you see too many possibilities for failure so you either never take the risk or you become so fixated on the possible failures that you end up failing. I could see his point.

Sometimes, it’s ok to jump in without knowing every last thing. To fire ahead with vision and determination and overcome problems as they appear rather than trying to analyse every blip on the horizon. Sometimes you have to just get your feet wet and say ‘why the hell not?’.

So here’s to sponenaity and here’s to taking a risk – because sometimes your attitude will get you further than the facts will.

Filed under: Rolling with the Punches

Tags: Emotion Is A Rollercoaster That's Jumped off The Tracks