A-Z of Personality Branding Part 3: Courage
By Emmanuella Edun-Adedeji
It was Nelson Mandela that said and I quote ” I learnt that courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”.
Being sceptical and afraid of certain ventures is part of our human anatomy and none is exempted from this, not even those we adore and want to mimic.
What separates the winners from the losers is the reality that winners don’t quit or give up and losers do the reverse… It takes courage to look at a challenge face long and say try me, rather than why me?
The Lion is the King of the jungle not because it is the biggest, but it’s the most courageous. A lion can chase a seeming prey, ten times its size.
It takes courage for lofty dreams to be actualised, because there are always a million voices and instances, clamouring to tell you why you aren’t good enough for that vision of yours. Like Nelson Mandela said in my early citation, the brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
A lot of people may not believe in you, just make sure you’re not one of them. As long as you’re on a worthy cause that will be beneficial to mankind and yourself, then you’re good to go irrespective of the challenges ahead… Paths without obstacles lead nowhere important: John Mason.
Big fishes aren’t found in calm, shallow waters, they are found in deep stormy waters, full of tidal waves that rock anything they come in contact with, I reiterate again, Courage is the ability to overcome fear!
There is also this acrostic I love so much because it is two dimensional and self explanatory, it says, ” F.E.A.R. Could mean, Fail Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise”, your choice determines your lot.
Courage is the ability and determination to stand for what you believe in even in the face of seeming danger or uncertainty, and more often than not, we get to discover that those fears were nothing but shadows in the dark, unsubstantial.
Martin Luther King Jnr of blessed memory also said, ” it is better to die for something positively worthwhile (paraphrased by me) than to live for nothing. You are not in competition with anyone but yourself!
John Mason also said: “If the shoe fits, don’t wear it because you need room for expansion”.
Whatever your Mind can conceive, your hands can achieve. No matter the odds, if you believe you can, you will, and if you believe you can’t, you won’t!
I end with a stanza from one of my poems:
One thing I’ve learnt in life is never to give up, Even when it seems the sky above me wants to drop.
With head up high and eyes on my target I’ll earnestly pursue. Knowing with dogged courage I’ll eventually subdue… It can be your mantra too.
Cheerio…
