The rewards for living your life with courage are immeasurable. The penalties for not being brave are immeasurable as well. There is no way around the need for it unless you choose to live as a hermit and hide from the world.
A lot has been written about being brave. How can anyone adequately describe what climbing Mt. Everest is like? No description could convey how the human mind develops and adapts as a person climbs such a dangerous mountain.
Reading an article or a book to instill courage in yourself is impossible. You could read 10 books about being brave when you skydive, and you would still be afraid when you approach the open door of the airplane and look down.
You cannot intellectualize courage. It’s impossible. You first have to do what you are afraid of, and then you get it. It never works the other way around. You cannot convince yourself that you have courage in an area without bravery experience. You can, however, convince yourself to jump out of the airplane even though you’re scared to death!
If we must face what we are afraid of before we get the courage, the rewards can serve as inspiration to go forward. Once you do, your brain, emotions, and spirit will learn how to deal with whatever you were afraid of, and then you will get the guts!
Here are some rewards for being brave.
Get a Natural High
A very satisfying and long-lasting natural high follows a brave act. Each time you face something you’re afraid of, you get the high after it’s done — not before. However, you can expect the high that will follow as a way of motivating yourself.
The greater the fear that you face, the greater the courage and natural high that you’ll get afterward.
Experience the Glory
Moments of glory only come to those who perform acts of bravery. These don’t necessarily have to be publicly recognized acts. They can be triumphant moments that are only meaningful to you and perhaps a significant other.
Overcoming a long-term personal struggle is a moment of glory that can only be fully appreciated by you. Only you know how much bravery was required to succeed. Your victory shouldn’t be less sweet because no one else completely understands. Give yourself the glory!
Attain Your Dreams
Courage will be required throughout the journey to attain your dreams. You could avoid fearful situations and settle for less than what you truly want, or be bold and pursue your dreams.
As you triumph over smaller challenges, you’ll build up a level of courage and begin to feel like you can face anything! This comes because you have developed the ability to go forward even though you’re afraid.
Gain a Hero’s Reputation
There are moments when your bravery will be publicly tested. You must decide in advance how you will respond.
If you maintain a willingness to face these challenges bravely, you’ll gain a hero’s reputation regardless of the outcome. Heroes don’t always win. What separates heroes from cowards is their willingness to act!
The reward comes when other people respect you based purely on your bravery and character, not your title, power, fame, wealth, possessions, or appearance. People follow those who demonstrate valor, whether they are men or women.
Achieve Greater Success
Who are the people with the most success and wealth? Are they the strongest, tallest, and best-looking people? Hardly. Are they the most educated? Nope! What all successful people have in common is that they do not allow fear to stop them from doing what’s needed to reach their goals.
There are no shortcuts or alternate routes to success. Bravery is always required. The more courage you develop by facing your fears, the more success you’ll enjoy.
The more intense and fearful the struggle, the sweeter the joy when your goals are finally achieved.
Find the Love of Your Life
To find the love of your life, you’ll need guts. Your alternative is the timid path of settling for whoever comes along.
Gallantry must be developed to do the work necessary to identify your perfect partner, join an online dating service, and build a relationship.
Men must develop the bravery to approach women, start a conversation, and ask them for a date. Women must develop the nerve to make eye contact, smile, and be alluring.
If you want to find the love of your life, you must be bold!
Have Greater Satisfaction in Life
Many of life’s sweetest things follow acts of bravery. If a person developed greater courage in the areas described above, their general satisfaction in life would increase.
How often have you postponed or avoided something that you knew would be good for you because you were afraid or uncomfortable? Each time you postpone or avoid something, you’re developing greater timidity.
Shyness is a common problem that can severely limit a person’s satisfaction in life. Shyness is fear-based. The quickest way to overcome shyness is to do what shy people fear the most: public speaking. Toastmasters offers a low-cost way to develop public speaking skills in a supportive environment. There are over 11,000 Toastmasters clubs worldwide, so there’s probably one near you. I’ve been a member for many years. Check it out.
If you want to experience massive personal growth, go toward and through whatever you fear. The level of satisfaction that you will experience in your life will be in direct proportion to how far you go with this.
***
What’s incredible about any discussion about courage is that most of what we are afraid of is an illusion that never comes true. To stop these illusions, we must face them, and the rewards will follow.
The same is true of justifiable fears. To gain courage, we must face them, and then we will reap the rewards.