Top 10 Things You Can Learn About Yourself When You Take a Courageous Step
When you take a courageous step in your life, there are many things you can learn about yourself. Merriam-Webster defines courage as the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.
Making a courageous move is sometimes necessary to change the direction of your life or start a new venture. Here are ten things you can learn about yourself from taking that step.
- You Are Capable
Taking a courageous step will show you that you can make big decisions and follow through on them. One bold step can lead to another by instilling more confidence in your ability to get through to the other side.
One side effect of realising that you are more capable than you thought is higher self-esteem. According to mayoclinic.org, high self-esteem benefits include being confident in your decision-making abilities, being assertive in expressing your needs or opinions, being more resilient and better at forming secure and honest relationships.
- You’ll Figure It Out.
Even if the outcome of taking a courageous step isn’t exactly what you had hoped for, you can figure out a way to make it work. Learning that you can make a bold move and work with any result is an important lesson.
If you take one courageous step and things don’t work out as planned, but the result is still satisfactory, you are much more likely to make another attempt and feel more confident next time.
- You Can Achieve Goals
Learning that you can achieve your goals is one of the most helpful things you can know from taking a courageous step. You control your own life and are responsible for your success or failure.
Lifehack.org says that achieving goals helps you to continually improve and learn how to reach the next goal better. It increases your self-esteem and rewards your brain with good feelings.
- You Can’t Please Everyone.
There is no way to make everyone involved happy with the outcome of every decision. By taking a courageous step and learning this fact, you can move on and consider more of your opinions and intuition.
In an article on ccbhc.org, some ways to get out of the habit of trying to please everyone include learning to say no to things you genuinely don’t want to do, setting healthy boundaries, and putting an end to excuse-making. Everyone has different needs, and there is no way to please them all, so focus on what is best for you and the task at hand.
- How You Respond to Stress
Taking a courageous step is a great way to determine how you respond to stress. Learning about your stress responses can help prepare you for stressful situations in the future.
If your reaction is adverse some suggestions on how to respond healthier, include as meditation, listening to music, warm baths, reading a book, or renewing your feelings of control.
- Your Strengths
One way to learn about your strengths is by taking a courageous step. You will find out what traits and characteristics assisted you in making this bold move. Maybe communicating clearly and setting realistic expectations worked to your advantage. If that’s the case, then make sure you continue to develop communication skills and use them in the future. Discover what you are best at and focus on how you use those traits to your advantage.
- Your Weaknesses
Just as you can learn about your strengths, taking a courageous step can also teach you about your weaknesses. Was there one thing that didn’t work or that you know you could do better?
Determine your weakest points and use that information to delegate next time or try to build your skills in those areas. Learn what you could have done better, and remember to apply it the next chance.
- You Are Not Perfect
No plan will ever be perfect and failproof, and neither will you. You don’t need to be perfect to take that first courageous step. Put it all out there and do your best; that is all you can expect from yourself or anyone else. Your best work might differ depending on circumstances, but it will be admirable. Success is about how you perceive it, so if you see yourself as successful, you are.
- Your Mistakes Are Forgivable
To learn from the mistakes, you make when taking a courageous step, you first need to understand what happened and allow yourself to feel if necessary. According to rtor.org, allowing yourself to feel your negative emotions for a short time is helpful and then let them go. Forgive yourself and move on with your life. Commit to doing better next time and choose not to make the same mistake again.
- What You Are Willing to Sacrifice
When you take a courageous step, you often take on a commitment that will take up some of your time, money, or even your health and wellness. You will quickly learn what you are willing to give up in exchange for the success of your new venture. Some sacrifice is warranted if you want to succeed but think it through before you give up more than you bargained for.
Final Thoughts
Use these tips to decide whether it’s time to take that courageous step you’ve been anticipating and face the unfamiliar. Either way, you will learn something about yourself that will help you in the future.
As soon as you dare to act, the rest will begin to fall into place. Use this opportunity to step outside your comfort zone and take a chance to see what you’re made of. You may find that making a move is less stressful than the anticipation leading up to your decision.
