courage

Hey friend, 

I put together a form for you to ask any questions in regards to online business, global living & alternative education- I’m making my way through your responses this week.

Here’s one for today from Michael…

“How do I find the courage to separate myself from the comforts of my known life to seek the unknown? Mostly, friends, pay-check, and current set of problems“

It’s a good question- where does courage come from and how to we get more of it?

I think for me, courage was the greatest gift my parents gave me, I grew up in an environment filled with courage. My parents have always been extremely courageous. And from a young age, my siblings and I were constantly given opportunities to be courageous. 

Whether is was busking on the street as a 11 year old. 

Playing rugby league at a high level in older age groups with much bigger & more developed bodies in my teens.

Door to door sales. 

Fighting at the Casino in front of 600+ people at the age of 13. 

From a young age, my father really nurtured my heart to believe that I could create whatever I wanted with my life, if only I had the courage to follow it. 

And so courage has always been a given for me. 

But I understand that isn’t common. It’s very rare. 

In truth, nobody is teaching courage. 

I define courage as the ability to take action of what only you can see. 

To do the thing that others won’t understand. 

Courage is a willingness to be rejected by others, in order to fully receive yourself. 

Courage is the ability to risk everything else, to gain the only thing that matters, you.

Courage isn’t an intellectual process. 

Courage doesn’t come from thinking, processing, weighing up the options.

Courage doesn’t come from consensus. 

Courage doesn’t come from the mind. 

Courage is all about action, and about making a decision.

You find courage by doing things that require courage. 

You become a courageous person, by doing courageous things. 

You become comfortable in the unknown, by continually deciding to walk into the unknown despite how uncomfortable it is. 

Courage is like jumping off a cliff. You can stay at the top all day, counting down, thinking about it, psyching yourself up, trying to wrap your head around it.

But at the end of the day, you just let go of what you know, and just fucking jump. 

For me, I just couldn’t live with myself climbing down from the cliff, knowing I should’ve jumped.

-Jay

Jay Topp is a 24 year old writer, marketer, film maker & self-led educator originally from Australia, now based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. You can see his films here. Instagram here. And his business website here.

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