How to Have Courage[edit]

I'm Lois Brown. I served as a combat medic in Iraq, and I learned about courage in the worst classroom there is.

Let me tell you something nobody tells you about courage: it's not about not being afraid. The bravest people I've ever known—the soldiers who ran toward gunfire to pull out the wounded—they were terrified. Every single one. The difference was they moved anyway.

I spent twelve months patching holes in people. Literal holes. I saw what fear does to the body: the shaking, the tunnel vision, the way time stretches and compresses. I felt it all myself. And I learned that courage isn't the absence of that—it's the decision to act in spite of it.

After I came home, I became a nurse. Different kind of courage now. Holding the hand of someone who's dying. Telling a family what they don't want to hear. Standing up for a patient when the system wants to move on.

Courage has a hundred faces. This wiki is about finding yours.

Where to Start[edit]

If you're facing fear right now:

The Anatomy Of Fear — What's actually happening in your body.
When You Can't Move — Paralysis is real. Here's how to break it.
The First Step — Always the hardest. Always worth it.

If you need to act:

Courage Under Pressure — When there's no time to think.
Moral Courage — When the right thing is the hard thing.
Physical Courage — When your body has to override your instincts.

If you've been through something:

Courage After Trauma — You're not broken. You're adapting.
When Courage Runs Out — It's a resource. It depletes.
Recovery Is Brave — Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

If you want to build courage:

Training Your Fear Response — Yes, you can do this.
The Courage Muscle — It gets stronger with use.
When To Walk Away — Sometimes that's the bravest choice.

A Note on This Wiki[edit]

I've seen courage in firefights, and I've seen it in hospital rooms. I've seen it in a mother staying sober for her kids and in a teenager telling the truth when lying would be easier. Courage doesn't care about the setting. It cares about the gap between what you feel and what you do.

What I write here comes from blood and dust and fluorescent hospital lighting. It comes from my own failures—the times I froze, the times I ran, the times I wish I'd done more. Courage isn't something you have or don't have. It's something you practice.

And every single person can practice it.

Explore[edit]

Index — All articles on this wiki
Sister_Wikis — Our family of wikis

— Lois Brown, still learning what courage means