Courage is not the absence of fear
Well, I don’t know about you, but I certainly wasn’t sure I was looking forward to 2021…
On December the 30th when the rumours started about school closures it literally put me into a spin. Memories of last time came flashing back like a flood and to be honest there were a lot more negatives than positives and the thought of going back to that time again was not one that I wanted to even start to entertain.
A New Year always symbolises fresh starts and new things and to me this was not a ‘new’ that I wanted. All the anxiety of last year came pouring back into my thoughts and by the time the 31st had dawned I knew that I needed to do something to stop this thought train and fast!
Fear was looming and I knew that I had to combat that – I made time to sit down so I could sort this out. I remembered from somewhere in the recess of my brain, something about courage is not the absence of fear and so I went to investigate… sure enough I found and love this quote by Nelson Mandela, which says “I learned that courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear.”
My fear was not the main obstacle to me moving forward, it was what I did with that fear that would determine my future and the new year. I needed to take the proverbial “bull by the horns” and show it who was boss! Coupled with that I went back and thought through some of the many lessons that I had taught young people in this past term. We reminded the young people that we all have areas of control that we can do something about and so we should. However, it is so helpful to realise that there are some things that are simply out of my circle of control and so come what may, there is no way that I am going to be able to move those mountains and spending mental time and effort on them was a losing battle.
The serenity prayer sums that up so eloquently when it says “God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference”.
In reality nothing had actually changed in my circumstances, 2021 was still looming as unknown as before but my perspective had changed and I knew that I wasn’t going into it alone. Both those things made it bearable and dare I say it even exciting – so then, bring on 2021 and whatever adventures it brings. May I tackle the challenges I can with my very best efforts and leave those things that are not mine to solve.
COURAGE is not the absence of fear but the willing to go forth regardless.