What Are You Afraid Of? Be Courageous!

"The steeper the mountain, the harder the climb, the better the view from the finish line." ~Anonymous

 

Do you consider yourself to be a person of courage?  How do you define courage?  People often define courage as the absence of fear.  I define it differently.  Courage is not the absence of fear but the decision to overcome fear.  Fear has the ability to freeze you in your tracks.  Fear will keep you from following your passion and living your life’s dream.  President Franklin Roosevelt was correct when he declared “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  Courage challenges you to overcome the fear that stands in your way. 

 

We have all heard the famous Robert Frost poem “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled and that has made all the difference.”  Oftentimes, courage is trying something new or doing something that those around you have never done before.  The road less traveled may be challenging at times.  A quote by an anonymous person states, “The steeper the mountain, the harder the climb, the better the view from the finish line.”  If you have ever lived in the mountains like me, you will understand that statement very well. 

 



Leaders should take into consideration the impact their actions make on others.  When you are courageous, you set a new standard for others to follow.  For example, in my home community, few people have left to pursue degrees of higher education.  This summer, after I graduated with my undergraduate degree, a local man pulled me aside at a meeting and told me how proud he was of me for being different and being an example to the other youth in my home community by pursuing a degree in agriculture.  That was completely unexpected.  Oftentimes leaders influence others without even knowing it.  My mother was the first one in my family to achieve a bachelor’s degree.  All throughout my life, the expectation has been established that my sister and I both will achieve bachelor’s degrees or more.  As I pursue a master’s degree, I am setting a new standard for my future descendants. 

 

Some of the most courageous people on the planet are farmers.  Each year, they till the soil and plant their seeds.  They hope that in a few months, they will be able to harvest a crop and feed the world.  But we all know that the weather and other factors are often unpredictable.  Sometimes there is a season of flooding such as we have had here in North Carolina this year.  Sometimes there are eras when there is intense drought such as in the Midwest in 2012.  Farmers risk their livelihoods each year in order to feed the world three times a day every day.  Despite the fear of failure that may be instilled from a year of drought and flood, farmers courageously choose to plant their fields again because they know that the world depends on them for food.

 

Choose to take the road less traveled and overcome your fears with courage.  Don’t let fear hold you back from making your impact on the world.  Be courageous and I know I will see you on the highway to success!