Towering inferno

Leaving a safe secure job is as exciting as opening the door to your closet when you were four year's old.

It's frightening. There are monsters who lurk and want to eat little girl's tongues. Immobilized by fear, we don't open the door of darkness. We choose to remain on the other side of the room with the lights turned on.

For years I thought fear was the biggest thing holding us back from our dreams. I was wrong. It's something worse.

Humans are born with two fears: falling and loud noises. All the other fears we have are learned. Fear of loss, recognition, failure, what others think, public speaking, and many others are learned over time with our experiences.

I once had a young man working with me who was an amazing technician. He could do the job with little to no supervision. He was the perfect employee with one exception. He didn't like to deal with issues. He would avoid confrontation for any price. And that price hurt his team and my relationship with him. He was gutless. He was a coward.

A coward isn't someone who is fearful.  A coward is someone who lacks courage. If you remember, the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, desired courage.

Courage is defined by acting despite fears.

Fear is not the problem. We all have them. Courage is the real issue.

For the young man who worked with me, he lacked courage. He didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings so he instead lived in a mire of conflict as he chose not to confront any of it.

For me, courage is someone who enters a burning building risking their own safety to save a life. The risk is much different if the life inside is a loved one.

Without courage, a person cannot move forward. Forget about fears. Acting despite fear is courage. Action is the most important step to realizing your dreams.

Courage
We lack to offend.
We desire to unhurt.
We avoid conflict.
So we sweep the issues,
Under the floating floors.
And in the end,
The one we hurt, 
Is ourselves.
We lack the courage to save a life 
Inside the burning building, 
Not realizing the smouldering life inside 
Is our own.