Keith JonesMay 13, 2016

Courage is absolutely essential to living an extraordinary life. At 2BeRe-U, we define such a life as daily striving to be your personal best and loving and helping others be their best. The one thing that can interfere with this happening is fear. And fear shows up almost everywhere. You must be strong to take it on. And if you’re to win the battle against fear, you must exercise your courage muscle.

The best definition I’ve heard for courage is “being powerful in the face of fear”. There are some things that I have no problem taking on like my health, fitness and helping others. I bring my best effort to all of these. Regardless of what people think about how I eat, approach exercise or support friends, I do it lovingly and at 100%. But when it comes to other areas, I’ve had to use everything in me and draw motivation from outside sources to take action. This doesn’t make me weak. It simply reveals an area of my life that I need become stronger in. This is where building the courage muscle comes in.

Have you noticed a declining level of fitness or health and ignored the signs like shortness of breath, increased fatigue or gradual weight gain? How has fear stopped you from addressing this area of your life? Why not go see your doctor for an assessment of where you are so you can develop a plan for getting your health and life back?

I allowed fear of the unknown to keep me from responding to an IRS notice for way too long. As with most things that go unaddressed, they get worse with time. I finally got tired of ignoring the issue so I called someone I trusted for advice. They shared how they would handle the situation; which was to contact the IRS immediately and learn all the facts about the matter. I knew this was the correct course of action, but it didn’t silence the fear. Only courage could do that. As I dialed the number to the IRS officer, my resolve and courage muscle became stronger. I was given a list of things to do by certain dates. Each item marked a new opportunity to build courage. So I went to work strengthening this muscle. The matter has been satisfactorily resolved. And while that’s wonderful, the biggest gift is greater courage.

I encourage you to work on building your courage. Truly take on your health and fitness or any other area of your life where you feel a loss of power. Don’t let fear tell you it’s too hard or too late to take action. Be a loyal and unconditionally loving friend when people in your life go through tough times. Don’t let fear of what others think or say stop you. Take on that financial or legal matter you’ve been ignoring. Don’t let fear fool you into thinking it doesn’t exist. Free yourself of worrying about when you’ll eventually have to deal with it. Build courage so you can take on everything you fear. And when you do, you will make living an extraordinary life possible.

Stronger Mindset,

Keith