Episode 96: What is Courage?

One day when the glory comes, it will be ours. It will be ours. And hello everyone! Happy New Year! Happy 2018 to everyone. This is the first podcast of 2018. This is part of the weekly Yes Am podcast and the Inspired to Give podcast. So this is a sharecast. I'm your host Travis Thomas, the creator of Live Yes And and the host of the weekly Yes Am. podcast, as well as the host for the Inspired to Give podcast. And so happy 2018, everyone. Today's topic is what is courage? And the reason we are celebrating courage on the podcast is, for those of us here in the United States, Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So it's a holiday. A lot of schools are out. Some businesses are closed. So it's a celebration of one of the greatest men, one of the greatest Americans that our country has ever seen. And in a lot of ways celebrating not only his character and his integrity, but at the heart of what Dr. King represented was courage. And when we think of courage, we often think of just animal courage and masculine courage. And I think Dr. King proved There is so much more to it than that. I know for myself, on Monday I'll be up in Michigan giving a talk to school staff and sharing with them ideas of inspiration to help them live with more purpose, with more authenticity and collaboration. And, you know, there's a great amount of courage that goes with living more authentically. So I'm honored to get to do that. But when you think of Dr. King's life, I know I often do this, Whether historically looking at his life and the different marches and the protests and putting himself always in front of danger, putting himself in front of potential harm. And I always ask myself, could I have done that? Could I have been one of those protesters? Could I have marched knowing that at the very least I'm going to jail? At the very minimum, I'm going to jail. And quite possibly, I'm going to be beaten, injured, if not killed. Do I have that conviction? Do I have that strength? Do I have that courage to stand up in that kind of danger and that kind of fear? And the reason I emphasize cour, that courage, is because when we look at where courage comes from, you know, the Latin of the word courage, cour, Right, which is heart. You know, Brené Brown talks about in one of her books that courage is a heart word, right? Cor for heart. And she says an early definition of courage was to speak one's mind by telling all one's heart. To think of courage as speaking one's mind by telling all one's heart, that is courage. That is That is vulnerability. You know, we think of courage as doing what's right in the face of fear, right? Courage is all about vulnerability. It's about being afraid and being scared, but being driven by the conviction to do what is right in the face of that fear is why courage is so heroic, right? If there's not an element of fear, that's not courage, right? That's, that's not leaving your comfort zone. And, you know, the idea of how do we face adversity and how do we deal with struggle and how do we deal with challenge, it's all about getting outside our comfort zone and how do we respond and live when we're outside our comfort zone. Right. How do we yes and life when it is scary? When we're stuck in the goo, when we're stuck in the muck where we are faced with real danger, right? Courage is how we respond in the face of that danger. And to respond with heart, to respond with compassion, to speak one's mind. You know, I think we're experiencing a time right now in the history of humanity where courage has a new face. We are seeing women coming forward every day with this Me Too movement. Women who have not felt safe, who have not had the ability to speak up and feel safe doing it, Demonstrating the courage that enough is enough, and being heard, and inspiring others to have the courage to do the same. We're seeing people step up with all of the natural disasters happening in the world—the courage to run at, you know, to run in the direction of the fear, to run in the direction of the danger, to help mankind. We're seeing people standing up for others who. Who don't have a voice, who don't have the ability to, whether it's being bullied or for a whole group of people, whether you agree with him and his stance or not. What Colin Kaepernick did was having the courage to stand up for something or actually take a knee for something that he believed in, and that took a tremendous amount of courage. He had a lot to lose, and he has lost as a result. I mean, we're talking about someone who was a starting NFL quarterback. And as a result of his protest, his peaceful protest, he lost his job. He has essentially been blackballed from an entire league. He polarized, obviously polarized this nation. He lost his job, lost his career, and millions in the process. If that's not courage, right, then what is? And then most recently Sunday night, the Golden Globe Awards, Oprah Winfrey was awarded the award, her Lifetime Achievement Award, and used that opportunity to, as one of the most powerful women in the world, to speak a message of inspiration and hope for anyone who has felt abused, put down, or silenced, and to support everyone who is speaking up, to use that platform. And again, someone who has a who has the platform, who has power to help others, and the courage knowing that whenever you stand for something, you're standing against something else, and and all of the attention and all the dissension and all of the disagreement that's going to happen as a result—that takes courage. So for us, for you and I, what does courage look like? for us? What does courage look like for you? What does it mean for you to live courageously? And I don't think it always means putting your life on the line. And it doesn't always mean exposing some global movement, right? But courage is how we live our life on a day-to-day basis. Are we living from our hearts? Are we making the right choices? Are we making the right— choices based on our purpose, even when it is scary. And I think about what courage looks like in my own life. I think about just my family, you know, and I see courage in the smallest and even the most simplest powerful ways. But for Hollister, my wife, I mean, the courage that she demonstrates to attempt to grow personally and spiritually and in a way that not only helps her and improves her, but blesses our entire family. By making choices that are unconventional that people don't always understand and how courageous that is. And there's a ton of fear around that. And I know that because I live with her. There's a ton of fear for both of us. I see courage in my children. Trinity, for a teenage girl who puts herself out there with her videos in a way that she is She's doing something at one of the most self-conscious times of our lives as a teenage girl and just putting herself out there in such a courageous way. My 12-year-old son Holland, who actually turns 13 this week, who's about to be a teenager, the courage it took for him to perform in a play that was so far outside of his comfort zone. He didn't want to do it. We kind of had to forcefully nudge him in that direction. But the courage it took for him to do that and watching him overcome those fears in the process was really inspiring. And when I think of my, you know, my 10-year-old son who just a couple of years ago, he was 7 getting ready to turn 8, and he had to spend a week in the hospital. And it was a scary time. It was a scary time for him. It was a scary time for, for me and us as a family. And the courage that he expressed during that week every day. And I just looked at him every day and I was so impressed and amazed at the courage that, that he demonstrated throughout that entire ordeal. And so for me, what does courage look like for me? You know, it's, it's, it's scary when, when, when you don't know professionally and personally how things are going to unfold. And I just recently wrote a blog On this idea. And for me, it's, am I living on purpose? Am I living my life to the best of my ability on purpose? And that to me feels very courageous because it is very, very scary to do so. And I feel like I'm trying to do that. And so, So for you, listener, as we are inspired to give, as we are living our yes and, as we We live to be the best version of ourself. I call it your yes, your excellent self. What does courage look like for you? And, and how are you choosing to be courageous and inspiring others in your life and living a more authentic and vulnerable, vulnerable and courageous life? So there you have it, everyone. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And go out there and do something courageous today. Have a wonderful day, everyone.