May 1--Courage

All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.  --Frank L. Baum

    I'm not sure we humans realize how afraid we actually are. Fear masks itself in so many ways--anger, jealousy, envy, violence, abuse, addiction, on and on. I distinctly remember one of my first 12-Step meetings wherein the leader was talking about fear. I thought, "Geez, what a wuss, I'm glad I'm not afraid of all that." Little did I know! I had all those fears and even a few more, which I uncovered once I stopped burying them with food. 

    There are literally an infinite number of things to fear in this life, and fear can paralyze us if we allow it to do so. That's where courage comes in. We do the next thing in front of us, keep moving, and build confidence in our ability to make it through scary circumstances. 

    As Baum says, every living thing is afraid at some point. It is not a personal failure to be afraid. Viewed as an opportunity to strengthen our "resilience muscles," we can conquer fear and bring more confidence into our next fearful episode. I'm not sure we humans realize how courageous we actually are. 😉😉

    Confidently facing today,

        Leta