We Have Courage When We Care

Courage is very much associated with overcoming fear. It also comes with the consequence of believing that one isn’t courageous if they haven’t jumped out of a plane. I have a fear of swimming. It’s not that I don’t want to swim. I’d love to get into the water when I’m invited to a pool party or get into the ocean at the beach. We do what we care about, and I guess I don’t care enough to overcome my fear of the water. I hope people can converse with me even if I decide not to enter the pool.

I’d rather use a different definition of the word courage. In a world where you are expected to follow the rules and play the assigned roles, I’d rather define courage as following your heart. Just like jumping out of a plane, so few people do this. It makes sense as to why. To go against the grain of society is scary. It takes a lot of courage to come out to your parents. It takes a lot of courage to leave that job for something you believe will be more fulfilling but offer less pay. How scary is it to decide to transition to a gender that was assigned at birth?

Can We Be More Vulnerable with Each Other?

The very notion of being vulnerable towards another person is courageous. It’s what happens when we live in a society that prioritizes logic over emotion. We care about the great things our brains can do (none of it being bad) at the cost of diminishing the power of the heart. Good ideas about strategies and tactics are prioritized over whether or not the person doing the work is doing well. I’ve been in plenty of situations where we’ve celebrated the success of a complete goal without discussing the treachery it took to reach the destination. It makes it feel like no one cares, just as long as the thing got checked off the list. In a culture like this, we are taught to be “tough” rather than speak the truth about our well-being.

What Would Happen if We Started Caring?

Everything we do has consequences, even if we intend to follow our heart. The strength is pushing past that fear regardless because the love that you have within you is much larger than the fear. To be courageous means not having any secrets but being able to express yourself lovingly. If you’re not harming anyone else, who cares if you run contrary to what society tells you to be. I make this joke pretty often, but it seems like with AI and other enhanced technology, we are going to be replaced by robots. We will be those robots if consistently condemned for expressing our true selves.

I’ve spent much time learning about detachment during this spiritual journey of mind. Truth be told, I don’t want to detach. I want to be an active participant in life. I want to love things so much that I’m 100% committed to it. Without love being ingrained into the things that I’m doing, it is impossible. It’s impossible to be 100% committed to a company that doesn’t care about the well-being of its employees on a personal level. Being in a relationship is hard since the other person doesn’t care.