Tag: Courageous Thoughts

How To Find The Courage To Be Yourself

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Personal Development, Personal Growth
Photo by Alan Mas

“Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?”- George R. R. Martin

You don’t get gold medals for being timid; you get gold medals for being brave, for being courageous. Stop waiting for the perfect time to reinvent yourself. Yes, it takes courage to leave where you are. But without courage, you are not going anywhere. If you want to be successful, courage is the way. Seneca once said, “Courage leads to heaven; fear, to death.” If you want to go to heaven, you must develop the courage to live your life. And to do that, let us explore the following ways:

Learn more about yourself

To know what you want, you must first know what you do not want. To face your future, you must learn more about yourself. You must know what your weaknesses and strengths are. You must be brave. John Updike said, “You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.” You can never know how courageous you are until you have faced something terrible. And if you can face it, you will succeed.

“Dedicate yourself to your dream”

“So be encouraged and dedicate yourself to your dream and if your dream should come my way one day then we will dance upon the boards of life.”- Ben Vereen

Francois de La Rochenfoucauld once said, “We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger.” You can find the courage to live your life if you are brave enough to dedicate your life, yourself to your dream. Because you cannot get what you want without dedicating your life to it. So if you want your dream to happen, you must dedicate yourself to it.

“Admit to yourself your own errors”

It is hard to admit our own errors. But it is the best way to learn from our mistakes. If you cannot admit your own errors to yourself, then you are not going to be able to learn from your failures. It is painful, but doable. According to Ludwig Van Beethoven, “Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.” It is okay to make mistakes. When you make a mistake, do not hide it, reveal it. Let other people know about it. It is hard, but you can do it.

Do not fear change

Whether you like change or not, it is here to stay. Change is not going anywhere. So if you don’t want to be left behind, you must embrace change. Do not fight change, embrace it. If you do, peace and growth will follow you. Alan Watts said, “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”

How To Choose Life Over Fear

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Personal Development, Personal Growth
Photo by Josh Willink

“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”- Bertrand Russell

To conquer fear, you must first conquer yourself.

“The privilege of a life time is being who you are.”- Joseph Campbell

Life is not easy. Do not let fear stop you from doing what you are here to do. Because the purpose of your life is to grow, is to increase, is to challenge yourself. Do not give in to fear. No matter what is going on in your life, do not let fear defeat you. As Edward Burke once said, “… The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear.” Do not let that happen to you. Yes, life is not easy, but you can make it better for yourself. To make your life better, you can try these strategies:

How to choose life over fear

Do what you are afraid to do

“Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.”- Eddie Rickenbacker

Stop living your life in fear. You are not here to live in fear; you are here to live in love, to enjoy your life, to face your own demons. Whatever you want to do, go for it. It is okay to fear, but do not let it stop you. Do not give in to it. If you want to do well in your life, you must be brave. As the old saying goes, “Fortune belongs to the brave.” So if you want to be successful in your life, you must be brave. You must have the courage to do what you are afraid to do.

Nothing is impossible

Before you get frustrated with yourself, it is important to know that you have what it takes to pursue whatever you want to pursue in your life. Do not let fear stop you from going after your dreams. You can do some things really well, but not everything. If you are to move forward, you must look for what you are really good at and do it really well. Dr Robert Schuller said, “Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.” You can achieve your dreams if you have the courage to follow your path.

Always be grateful for what you have

“Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost.”- Dr Robert Schuller

Focus on what you have, not what you do not have. Gratitude is the way to bring more things into your life. When you are happy for what you have, you will have more things to celebrate. Life is not perfect, but do not let that stop you from living your life. According to Robert Herjavec, “None of us can achieve perfection in everything we do, but all of us can be as good as our abilities enable us to be.” That is true. You can be good at something, but not at everything. So if you want to succeed, follow what you are good at.

Be Yourself

You can achieve anything you want if you are your true self. When you know who you are, you will know what to avoid. Don’t change because people want you to change. Before you change, you must know why you are changing. If you do not know why you are doing something, then it is not the right thing for you. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” No matter what you are facing in your life, do not give up on yourself. Be yourself. When you are yourself, your true self, you can grow yourself.