Courage isn’t a prerequisite … it’s a by-product.
Have the figs to grow some.
The main problem is …We don’t actually allow ourselves to feel fear.
We think it.
Instead of allowing the raw sensation in the body, we label it, analyse it, try to get rid of it. The sensation goes unmet… and that trapped energy has to go somewhere. So it rises into the head and becomes anxiety.
That’s the loop.
This is why exposure therapy works.
Incremental exposure to the thing you’re afraid of doesn’t eliminate fear …. it completes it. The nervous system learns: this sensation is survivable.
You feel fear, hesitation, doubt… and you move anyway.
You do the thing with fear, not without it.
The real problem is trying to remove fear from something that is genuinely frightening. That resistance doesn’t calm the system …. it amplifies it. What you resist becomes anxiety.
Only after you step into the thing you’re scared of does courage arrive.
Not as a rush.
Not as bravado.
But as a quiet knowing:
I survived that.
We keep waiting to feel ready. Confident. Certain.
But readiness is earned in motion, not in thought.
Fear doesn’t disappear first.
It follows.
It’s the nervous system’s payback for doing the thing your brain tried to stop you from doing.
So do the thing with shaking hands.
Say the words with a tight chest.
Take the step while your mind is screaming.
Feel what you set yourself to feel.
That’s how courage is forged.
Not before. After.
Gilesy 💪❤️❤️
