In life, there are moments when everything seems to fall apart. There are critical moments of ‘What Now?’ in life or feeling if it's too late to do something. For example:
- A student facing a failure point in competitive exams and worrying, ‘What now’
- A young professional not growing well and feeling s/he has missed opportunity
The weight of failures, setbacks, and challenges can become overwhelming, making us question our abilities and dreams. But in these moments, when the path ahead seems darkest, courage becomes our guiding light. This is a lesson deeply embedded in my life, someone who has faced and overcome significant challenges.
Life is the best teacher and the real-life experiences. Best learning experience.
The reality is that we all get stuck in the cynical “what ifs” at times. And those negative affirmations can be quite powerful—unless we choose not to let them prevail. It’s not until we force ourselves to have courage, which opens our minds to the more likely positive outcomes, that we are actually able to take action and move forward.
I feel blessed, to have faced challenging as well as blissful times, which truly taught me some of the greatest lessons of life, and enriched my knowledge base. My journey is not just about success; it's about resilience. I am someone who has experienced failure firsthand, and like everybody, I have had my moments of doubt. But instead of letting these experiences define me, I used them as stepping stone to success. My failures became lessons, doubts transformed into determination, and challenges were met with unwavering courage.
I'd like to share with you an excerpt from my book, With Courage, YOU CAN DO IT." (John’s story)
At the age of 50+ years my ex-colleague John, took the challenge and decided to learn something completely different than what he had been doing for over 30 years. And he did not hesitate to ask for help to come up the curve.
I would like to remind my readers that courage is the key to unlocking our potential. So, take a moment to reflect on your own life. What are the challenges you’re facing? What fears are holding you back? And most importantly, how can you summon the courage to overcome them?
Courage is about a ‘Never Give up attitude, unwavering determination for perseverance, Belief in self to succeed and not getting discouraged by others.
It is never too late to take a challenge and learn something new at any stage of life.
At the end, it's not about having all the answers or never failing; it's about having the courage to keep going, no matter what.
Looking back at my life:
- I realized that there had been many instances where I had a very difficult choice to make. And whenever I had enough courage to take the required action, the result has been very positive and has changed my life for good. But on the other hand, I had lost some critical opportunity due to the lack of courage, primarily due to fear of ‘What if?’, ‘What will people say?’, ‘What if I fail?’ etc.
- Courage is also linked to the self-confidence – If you have more self-confidence then you will have more courage and if you have low self-confidence then you may have lesser courage.
- I also observed that with experience and some success in my life, my self-confidence also increased and I got more courage to take tough decisions/actions.
But this happens till a particular age and when one starts getting older and becomes physically weaker, then this self-confidence and hence courage gets restricted.
4. Practical examples:
1. Arunima Sinha – Climbing highest peaks of all continents with one artificial leg
2. Thomas Edison – Electricity
3. Write Brothers – Aeroplane
4. Nelson Mandela – To fight against the unjust system of apartheid
5. Sachin Tendulkar – Hitting Fast bowlers
6. Hrithik Roshan – Overcoming his stammering to become one of the best actors
So, take courageous decisions/actions now before it is too late.
A little courage may result into big opportunities gained and the lack of it means the opportunity lost anyways.
These are the learnings on the curves of my life. And these curves had been my best teachers. For more such experiential learnings of my life please read my book “On the curves of my life”.
