courage

I think a lot—in case you hadn't gathered that yet. So another thing that has been on my mind lately is courage. Courage is no generic quality; it requires you to do something when the odds may be against you or you just can't see how things will turn out, making you uncertain or even afraid to take action. Courage asks you to try even when trying appears to be counterintuitive. Courage says, "You should try. Trying is the only way you'll know if [insert the thing for which you need courage] will turn out alright." 

And now I am recalling my philosophy I've held to since I was a teenager: The worst thing they can do is tell you no. I've lived by this maxim/motto/whatever-you-want-to-call-it for so long that all it looks like in hindsight is I'm one brave (or crazy) person.

Sometimes my instincts have been right and sometimes not, but then again, maybe they have been right more often than not and the people I've interacted with simply haven't had the courage to try along with me. I'm not saying that I'm the end all be all of courage because that is far from the truth, but I have had my share of proving ground in this area, and I'm confident that courage is a quality that I am at least half-proficient in. 

I don’t even know why I’m saying all of this except for maybe I am talking myself into reevaluating what courage looks like for me in certain situations. Maybe courage can present itself in not saying something in order to trust someone else to speak up and take the lead. Possibly courage is silently holding onto hope while looking at each day with gladness because truly it is turning out even better than just alright.