Confidence grows from the practice of our courage. Every moment we call upon our courage, we actually build more confidence.
It’s not ‘when I have more confidence, I’ll practice my courage.’ It’s more like ‘I want to increase my confidence so it’s time to lean into my courage.’
Courage looks rather stunning and admirable from afar on other people when we think their practice began on the foundation of confidence.
Yet it is the other way around, friends.
COURAGE CREATES CONFIDENCE.
- That deeply confident person in your life? They’re leaning into their courage.
- The person who does everything they want to do? They regularly ditch their comfort zone.
- That really successful person in your life? They’re making friends with their courage.
- The person you know who is consistently navigating challenges? Courage is their practice. Day in, day out.
- The people who love well, lead well, and live well? They choose courage consciously and honestly. No brave faces; just raw vulnerability and open hands to the outcome.
Courage invites us into its practice in a multitude of ways. Sometimes quietly, sometimes not. We always have free will to heed the invitations or ignore them. Many of us are (or will be) called to courage loudly and pervasively in our lives — not by choice but by circumstance. Such circumstances—even difficult ones—hold immense power to shape our confidence too.
We love to speak of our desire for greater confidence while simultaneously attempting to reserve our courage for only the big moments in life, choosing mild comfort the rest of the time. Stay there long enough, though, and such comfort is infused with apathy, judgment, and fear, which actually further reduces our confidence.
Want more confidence? It will take practice. Courage is the practice.
ALL OF US ARE CALLED TO COURAGE.
Every single one of us is called to a life of courage. While we love to read and theorize about courage, we often keep the actual practice on the shelf. Yet nothing real in our lives that holds any lasting meaning happens without adopting the practice of courage.
Courage is the bedrock of practicing our values, living in integrity, and being the fullest expression of who we are, no matter our privilege, principles, or purpose.
No dream we hold can be accomplished without courage. No grief can be realized without courage. No relationship we desire will grow without it, including the one with ourselves. Success and abundance in leadership, career, business, and community asks of our courage too.
WHERE DO YOU WANT MORE CONFIDENCE?
Where you specifically desire more confidence is an invitation to lean into your courage.
Start small. Tell the truth to yourself. Acknowledge what has kept you from deeper confidence in this area. Observe and name what has been holding you back, like really holding you back. Write it down or share with a trusted confidante if you can. Getting honest with ourselves is the catalyst for creating incremental change. (Want to know your current relationship to courage? Free free to take our complimentary quiz here.)
Courage is the birthplace of confidence. Drop the brave faces, the fake-it-til-you-make-it mentality, the bravado and faux swagger in favor of where confidence really begins.
Courage is the avenue for living according to our deepest truth. Courage allows our confidence to keep the lights on in every kind of life weather too.
Engage your courage, friend. Your confidence will follow.
With you in the practice,
