The Next Edit - Issue # 59
Borrowing (and Lending) Courage
đ§ One Big Idea
Sometimes we donât need advice, we need courage.
Have you ever noticed that watching other people do brave things makes you thinkâŚhey - if they can do that, why canât I?
A friend decides to leave a career they have outgrown. Another starts a business, a third one decides to downsize and move way.
Someone in your world decides to do something different and suddenly your inspired to think about what you might do if you only had the courage.
For years, I thought courage was something we had to find within ourselves.
Now I think it often begins somewhere else.
It begins when we witness someone else taking a step we werenât sure could be taken.
Psychologists call this social modeling. Seeing someone similar to us do something new increases our belief that we can do it too.
I simply call it borrowing courage.
Itâs one of the reasons I believe lifeâs biggest transitions shouldnât be navigated alone.
Whether youâre thinking about retirement, consulting, moving, volunteering, writing a book, starting a business, or simply redesigning your life, it helps to be around people who are asking similar questions.
Not because theyâll tell you what to do.
Because theyâll remind you that change is possible.
Simply sharing your experience and hearing other peopleâs can be enough to help you imagine a different future.
Thatâs one of the reasons I wrote Your Next Edit as a workbook.
Not because I wanted people to complete thirty exercises.
Because I hoped those exercises would spark conversations.
Conversations that help us realize weâre not alone, help us see possibilities we hadnât considered and give us just enough courage to start our own next edit.
đ ď¸Try This
Think about someone whose decision has influenced your own.
Maybe they changed careers, retired, moved, started over, slowed down or pursued a dream theyâd been putting off.
What was it about their story that stayed with you?
Now ask yourself:
Whose courage might you be borrowing right now?
And just as importantlyâŚ
Who might be borrowing courage from you without you even realizing it?
đAndreaâs List
Five ways to borrow courage:
Spend time with people who are already living the kind of life youâre considering.
Ask questions instead of making assumptions.
Remember that every successful transition started with uncertainty.
Share your own storyâyou never know who needs to hear it.
Donât wait until you feel fearless. Start when you feel curious.
âď¸The Final Edit
Most of us spend our lives believing we have to figure everything out on our own.
We donât.
Sometimes all it takes is hearing someone say,
âI did thatâ or, âIâm thinking about it too.â
Those simple words have a way of making the impossible feel possible.
Maybe courage isnât something we discover.
Maybe itâs something we share.
And perhaps thatâs one of the greatest gifts we can give each other as we navigate whatâs next.
See you in âthe next editâ
Andrea
