Courage

We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The definition of courage is the ability to conquer fear or despair. In the past we may have thought ourselves "courageous" because we stayed in circumstances that were difficult or nearly unbearable. We may have felt that walking away from family, children, or friends was cowardly or displayed weakness. We may have felt that by holding back our tears we were "stronger people".

Yet all the things we may have viewed as weakness are really signs of courage. All the things we believed to be acts of courage were really not courageous at all. If we walked away from difficult or unbearable circumstances, we would be conquering despair. If we cried, we would have been courageous by letting go of our fear, pain, or sadness.

Courage doesn't mean putting ourselves in stressful or unpleasant situations. Courage doesn't mean controlling our emotions. Courage is the ability to walk boldly through the fear and despair of life, rather suppress or avoid it.